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New FX mortgage scheme; Government plans state bank

Metals warehousing under threat; Goldman rejects criticism over delays

Talk to big dealers and investors in the secondary corporate and government bond markets and it is clear that radical changes are coming. An exchange-like model with a central order book for bonds has been talked about for years. The time for action is at hand. The old over-the-counter market-making system is withering.

In an economic climate that remains challenging, insight and control over cash management are more important than ever. ABN Amro offers its clients cash pooling solutions that enable them to manage their cash positions in one system, real time, with clear insight and complete control at all times.

Eurozone banks still have a way to go in deleveraging, but investor concern over weak disclosure might close access to equity.

Strip out the mega Verizon-Vodafone deal and European M&A activity year-to-date is at its lowest level since 2009. Hopes are, nevertheless, growing that an improvement in the economic climate and corporate risk-taking will boost deal-making.

India’s economy and currency has taken a battering, yet the worst of rupee depreciation should now be behind us. Stability should return, though a more meaningful appreciation of the rupee is still some distance away, writes Sanjay Mathur, Managing Director and Head of Economics Research, Asia Pacific ex-Japan at RBS.

The untimely death of an intern at Bank of America prompted a spate of headlines about the long hours worked in the City of London and Wall Street. Forcing junior staff to put in exceptionally long hours is clearly counterproductive in any sector of banking, as it is in other industries. But the practice reaches a peak of pointlessness in corporate finance, where the Bank of America intern worked. Pure corporate finance, such as mergers and acquisitions or advisory work, is the area in the City where the greatest nominal effort is applied to the least practical effect.

Former chairman arrested in France; $112 million net profit in first half.

Emerging market (EM) currencies are expected to continue to expand their share of the $5.3 trillion-a-day global forex market despite the turmoil, with China’s RMB leading the charge.

The recently discovered regulatory zeal for a focus on gross leverage ratios at banks, rather than capital assessed on risk-weighted assets, is creating a new set of problems for some of the biggest dealers. Barclays and Deutsche Bank in particular have been put on the back foot by the regulatory bait and switch, which comes at an awkward time – just as key engines of their profitability, such as rates trading, are sputtering.

Regulators want to shift the risks of such trading away from banks and towards financial institutions and are also pushing for more trades to be cleared centrally, writes Graham Shuttlewood, product manager at RBS.