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Merrill Lynch’s global head of FX sales, Christian Exshaw, has been notified that his position is at risk of redundancy and subject to a 90-day review. Exshaw moved to the bank as part of a team with Harry Culham from Dresdner, starting in January 2007. His departure – nobody in their right mind would accept the bet that he’ll be going back – marks the end of that particular adventure. Sources say that Vicenzo Galli-Zugaro’s position as head of investor client operations for EMEA is also under review.

The beefing up of its FX business shows no sign of letting up at UniCredit. The bank has hired Chris Dunning, who left Merrill Lynch in March, as head of FX exotic options trading. He reports jointly to Dan O’Sullivan, the banks global head of FX trading, and Tim Taubman, it’s co-head of option trading. Market sources also suggest that the bank has hired Joe Craven, who recently left his job as head of FX and local market sales at Dresdner NY.

JPMorgan has clarified its global rates and FX management team in an internal memo from Matt Zames, its head of global rates, FX and tax-exempt capital markets/municipals. Troy Rohrbaugh, who was previously head of EMEA FX trading and global head of FX options, has been promoted to overall head of global FX trading. He continues to report to Daniel Pinto in emerging markets currencies. Terry Belton is now head of global fixed income strategy and FX research, while Sikander Ilyas will manage the bank’s global hedge fund client franchise for rates and FX.

Mark Fenn, who was previously at HSBC, is believed to be starting at Standard Bank as an FX emerging market to corporate salesman at Standard Bank in London.

The management structure of its FX trading area will be little changed at RBS following its takeover of ABN Amro. Roger Hawes remains global head, with the same three line managers – Chris Peters in Europe, Peter Gorra in North America and Chris de la Hoyde in Asia. The only real changes are the relocation of the bank’s Asian hub from Hong Kong to Singapore and the move of algo trading, which will be managed by John Williams, to Hawes’ overall control.

Compliance officers at mutual fund firms are introducing tighter controls for staff who conduct personal trades in exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

Exchange-traded fund industry officials disagree over the future of ETF fees. While some believe that better performance and sophisticated strategies will justify higher expenses, others want to see ETFs maintain their lost-cost position.

The closed-end fund world is shrinking at a time when the industry faces problems financing debt and launches have virtually ground to a halt.

Institutional investors are beginning to play the de-coupling of inflation rates in emerging and established markets.

Add your own comments, and read the views of: Mark Snyder, global head of sales & trading, State Street Global Markets; Richard Leighton, global head of FX, Standard Chartered Bank; Richie Prager, head of global rates, currencies and commodities for Bank of America; Serge Topolanski, deputy head of flow business, Société Générale; Zar Amrolia, managing director, global finance and FX, Deutsche Bank; Dan O'Sullivan, head of global foreign exchange trading, UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking; Gerhard Seebacher, head of rates and currencies for Bank of America, Bank of America; Alain Delelis, head of FX in the Americas at Credit Suisse; Lars Hakanson, global head of foreign exchange, Société Générale; Eddie Listorti, head of FICC for Dresdner Kleinwort; Fabian Shey & Reto Stadelmann, global co-heads of FX exchange & money markets, UBS; Jeff Feig, global head of G10 FX Citibank; Andrew Brown, global head of FX at HSBC; Ivan Ritossa, head of global markets – trading, Asia Pacific, and global head of FX and prime services at Barclays Capital.

The world is starting to resemble a spinning top: one week the markets soar, the next they sink. Even mighty masters of the universe are confused: hedge funds and banks had a dire month in March.

Three dangers: credit crisis, recession and inflation. Only the first is being dealt with, and then essentially only in terms of liquidity. Expect a “U”-shaped recession with a long base.