Search results for

This debate took place in London on Friday July 11.

Mohammed Al-Hussein, Syria’s minister of finance, talks to Sudip Roy about the effects of oil price rises and declining domestic production, the development of the country’s banking sector, and efforts at budgetary control and the development of a T-bill market.

VTB, Russia’s second-largest banking group, continues to add to the array of western talent in its investment banking business. Its latest hire is Herbert Moos, who has been named as chief executive of VTB Bank Europe in London. Moos joins from Lehman Brothers, where he spent 14 years, most recently as chief financial officer for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. Moos will be responsible for developing the investment business of VTB in London, Asia and the Middle East. He will report to Yuri Soloviev, head of investment banking.

As foreign banks – with the notable exception of Santander – draw in their horns, local mid-tier banks are racing to take advantage of the domestic boom in Brazil. Chloe Hayward reports.

Under his presidency, Pakistan made huge progress in attracting foreign investment, privatization and bolstering the banking system.

The bank has shone through Kazakhstan’s financial sector gloom thanks to the chief executive’s cautious policies that he put in place while rivals were borrowing abroad to fund over-risky lending. Elliot Wilson reports.

Prime brokers' relationships with hedge funds have inevitably be modified by the credit crunch but ultimately the brokers have to provide the full range of services funds require at a reasonable cost and without undue constraints.

International supranational, sovereign and agency borrowers raised billions in dollar issuance during the first half of the year. This was a continuation of 2007, when volumes from supras and European agencies rose 14% to €241 billion, according to Dealogic. The dollar activity was driven, in large part, by central bank investors that were attracted by wide swap spreads and their wish to diversify away from the government-sponsored enterprises. The woes of the GSEs have increased and the high-level investor sponsorship the European Investment Bank received at the end of August for its $4 billion three-year issue, led by BarCap, Citi and JPMorgan, illustrates the state of the frequent borrower sector.

Massive interest in agricultural commodities has turned cautious. Investors are looking for a more lucrative and less volatile way to get exposure to long-term trends through equities and land. Peter Koh has a look at the menu.

"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory." That’s one veteran Moscow-based fund manager’s view on recent events in Russia. And no, he’s not referring to the conflict with Georgia, where Russia’s still formidable military might has arguably carried the day.

ENRC floated in London last year on the promise that it would make transformational acquisitions globally. Its play for rival Kazakhmys has, however, proved abortive. So what next for ENRC and its frustrated shareholders? Elliot Wilson reports.

The European retail structured products market could be more than twice the size previously thought, according to Greenwich Associates.