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A research report by Gulf Finance House raises the possibility of Kuwait going back to a dollar peg because of extreme volatility in the FX markets and to unfreeze its money markets. "Based on conversations with treasurers, the presence of FX risk premium is effectively imposing a barrier against the flow of funds from cheaper sources in the GCC to Kuwaiti banks," says the report. "Accordingly, dinar interbank rates remain the highest in the region, even after the recent moves of the Central Bank of Kuwait to activate repo facilities of 1% overnight and 3% one-month." Kuwait adopted a basket peg in May 2007 to contain inflationary pressures. The other GCC countries have their currencies pegged to the dollar.

With the current scrutiny on budgets, it is inevitable that IT spending will come under some pressure. According to a recent report from consultancy Celent Communications: "Global information technology spending by financial services institutions will reach $358 billion in 2008." This is a 4.5% increase over 2007, but is, says the firm, "substantially lower than the 6.4% growth achieved in 2007. The financial crisis and economic uncertainty have financial institutions tightening their belts."

European Commission digs its heels in over central counterparty.

While the structured products business is having a tough time as a result of poor performance and lower demand, the flow business is enjoying record volumes, particularly for exchange-traded options.

The primary market share of the top 10 global debt houses declined substantially in 2008, according to full-year figures released last month by Dealogic.

Can this year be any worse for IPOs? 296 is the number of IPOs withdrawn or postponed in 2008; $1.1 billion is the amount raised from the seven IPOs completed in the US during the second half of 2008, with the $145 million offering by Grand Canyon Education being the only US deal to price in the fourth quarter of 2008, when global IPO revenues to bank arrangers slumped 98% compared with the fourth quarter of 2007. Bankers aren’t enthusiastic about IPO prospects for 2009 but at least the annual comparisons are going to be easier.

Goodbye SLS, hello APF.

Premier Foods seeking approval for rights issue and placement.

Where there is market turmoil, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a lawsuit. And indeed, more than betting, these days investors are handing over money on a long-term basis to fund managers who will pick out lawsuits that are likely to pay out.

Argentina’s restructuring veteran says debt default plans are unrealistic

TraderTools has secured an additional $7.5 million of funding. Edison Venture Fund put in $7 million, with the remainder raised from the company’s management. Edison is a specialist at providing capital to companies in their expansion stage; it has experience of FX through an investment in online FX specialist Gain Capital. TraderTools says the funding will be used to expand sales, marketing and development of its Liquidity Management Platform.

As the ban on shorting 34 financial stocks lifted in the UK on January 16, shares at first rose but then fell sharply the following week after more bad news from banks. The Financial Services Authority is forcing hedge funds to disclose short sales of financials. Lansdowne Partners admitted to shorting Barclays Bank on one day that the bank lost 25% of its value. There were only six reports of short sales of more than 0.25% of a company. Barclays and RBS, however, saw much of their value wiped out in January as stock was sold off. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission extended its ban on shorting financials that it imposed last September. The ban will remain in place until March 6.