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Barclays Global Investors has appointed Karen Prooth, previously a managing director at JPMorgan Asset Management, as managing director and European chief operating officer for iShares, the company’s exchange-traded funds business, and GIMG (Global Index and Markets Group), which covers a number of businesses from equity index products to securities lending. She will be responsible for coordinating the operations, technology and finance functions for the businesses and reports to Rory Tobin, chief executive of iShares and GIMG Europe.

Could problems in the UK inter-bank market have been avoided?

Credit Suisse has appointed Michael Fouad Chahine as global head of Islamic banking distribution. The bank is expanding its platform to distribute Shariah-compliant products. Chahine, who will be based in Dubai, will coordinate the existing Islamic banking businesses across Credit Suisse’s investment banking, private banking and asset management divisions to build a distribution centre in Dubai. Chahine has been with Credit Suisse since 2000. Most recently he was head of strategic initiatives in Dubai.

The recent rise of shareholder activism, particularly from the hedge fund sector, has not been universally welcome. But should politicians and regulators step in, or should the market police itself?

Canada’s Scotiabank has agreed to buy 79% of Chile’s Banco del Desarrollo for $810 million, although it hopes soon to acquire the entire bank. The stake will be purchased from Sociedad de Inversiones Norte Sur, a Chilean investment firm that holds 39%, Crédit Agricole with 24% and Intesa Sanpaolo, which has 16%. "As required by local rules, Scotiabank will be making a public share offering on the same terms and expects to acquire up to 100% of Banco del Desarrollo, which would be valued at $1.03 billion," says Scotia. The deal is expected to close in November. Once it does, the combined operations of Scotiabank Sud Americano, the Chilean subsidiary of Scotiabank, and Banco del Desarrollo will create Chile’s sixth-largest bank.

Intervention did the trick, to an extent.

Bankers fear new requirements could prove costly.

The first European bank to be cleared to use one of the new Basle Accord’s advanced approaches – and reap the rewards – is not headquartered in London, Paris, or Frankfurt. It doesn’t inhabit a gleaming tower in Milan or a grand old office block in Madrid. Strictly speaking, it’s not even a bank. Duncan Wood reports.

Shareholder activism: a force for good or bad?

As volatility spreads across the debt markets, the CMBS market is taking stock. Property derivatives are likely to increase volatility in the market and contribute to spread widening just as refinancing activity – a significant driver of CMBS volumes – slows. But as competition between commercial lenders and conduit lenders expands across Europe, the market is looking to new jurisdictions to maintain growth.

Ecopetrol, the Colombian state-owned oil company, is expected to issue up to $2 billion-worth of ADR shares, most likely on the New York Stock Exchange next year, according to investment bankers.