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Such is the fragile state of leading banks that they might have to sell their highly prized emerging markets businesses to survive.

Last month the panel examined volatility and the reported demise of the dollar. This month, they discuss the merits of prime brokerage, the weakness of algos and how to generate alpha.

With traditional debt markets still in disarray, it’s theoretically a good time for sukuks to foster issuance outside the Middle East and Asia.

Board stupid

Does Latin America really need a new multilateral lender? Do Latin countries need more funding, and might not Banco del Sur hinder local capital markets’ growth?

"Sudan is probably the richest country in the region. It has the best commodity in the world: water. It also has oil, minerals, cattle, fertile land and human resources. If it can resolve its problems, Sudan has the potential to be a perfect economy." Such is the view of Ahmed Abbas, CEO of Liquidity Management Centre, a Bahraini Islamic investment firm. And if the capital markets are anything to go by, says Abbas, the biggest country in Africa might already have begun its recovery.

Central and eastern European issuers are likely to find accessing the international bond markets a challenging experience in the coming months given the continued US-inspired global liquidity squeeze. Speaking at Euromoney’s conference on central and eastern Europe in Vienna, Fokion Karavias, general manager of the global markets division at Greece’s EFG Eurobank, says that on the back of a general flight to quality from emerging towards developed markets all borrowers will face tougher market conditions but that government borrowers should find it easiest to issue. "Sovereigns will need to pay much higher spreads, but they will be able to issue," says Karavias, adding that even potential Euromarket debutantes such as Albania and Azerbaijan could get maiden issues away if they are prepared to pay the higher market clearing levels being demanded by investors.

Winners and losers in the credit crunch

During the course of 2007 launching deals went from being the ­easiest in history to perhaps as tough as it has ever been. But the finance industry continued to show it could produce the goods whatever the market’s conditions. These are the deals where issuers and advisers got their timing and structure just right.

Financial markets depend on confidence and trust. Trust is being broken.

The Argentine government under the leadership of Cristina Kirchner will have to reach a resolution with the holdout investors from the sovereign’s debt restructuring of 2005 if it is to avoid financing issues, according to analysts.

Fund of hedge funds group Financial Risk Management (FRM) has launched a new business to provide seed capital to early-stage hedge fund managers. Group chairman Blaine Tomlinson cites the need for managers to reach critical mass through partner ventures as the reason for the creation of the new platform. The business, FRM Capital, will also provide investment opportunities for existing fund of hedge funds clients. Industry participants say that the number of seeding funds is increasing as entering managers find it harder to attract capital, and as firms such as FRM seek to diversify their business.