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Far from turning a corner in 2008, the market looks set for a few tough months yet.

Infrastructure financing has become synonymous with Brazilian president Lula’s second-term government. As the country enters the first stage of its largest ever hydroelectric project there is a growing demand for funds that the local market is struggling to source. Chloe Hayward reports from São Paulo.

Nobuo Kuroyanagi, president and CEO, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group president, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Yasumasa Gomi, chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

Marcus Browning has resigned from Citi, where he recently took up a new role to build a proprietary team to trade volatility. He is believed to be headed for a position on the buy side. "We are disappointed to see Marcus leave, he has been a profitable trader for us and he has been instrumental in building FX options into the strong business that it is today at Citi. But we understand that he has long harboured a desire to work on the buy side, and we wish him success in the future," says James Bindler, global FX options head at Citi.

Icap has announced that it has upgraded its EBS spot FX platform, making it faster and adding enhancements. The company says that as a result, global deal times on the platform are now 75% faster than they were a year ago. Intra-regional deals are-now completed on average in five to eight milliseconds.

Two SIVs endured very different fates in February. On February 21, Dresdner Bank announced plans to shore up its K2 vehicle, providing liquidity support to the $19 billion vehicle as it restructures. But parent company Allianz has confirmed its plans to wind the vehicle down by the year-end. K2 runs three portfolios, one of which has entered a restricted operating period. Standard Chartered, however, has walked away from its SIV, Whistlejacket, which entered receivership on February 11 and was teetering on the brink of default by February 21.

Understanding the mark-to-market meltdown

Dow Kim, a 10-year veteran of Merrill Lynch who left the bank in May 2007, is to go ahead with his hedge fund, Diamond Lake, which he plans to roll out in April. Kim was co-president of Merrill’s global markets and investment banking division, and is largely blamed for the losses in the bank’s fixed-income and mortgages businesses despite leaving before the full extent of exposure came to light.

GSO Capital Partners intends to expand now it has the financial clout from its sale to Blackstone. The leveraged finance specialist has hired Najib Canaan, the head of asset-backed securities at Brevan Howard. Former colleagues of Canaan from his days at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette founded GSO.

The latest bout of blood-letting at the bank may only tarnish its reputation further.

Structured products debate: presents a range of new challenges for providers and distributors of structured notes. Representatives of leading structured products houses discuss those challenges, and the opportunities.

Hidetake Nakamura, managing executive officer and head of international banking unit.