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The insurance sector in Syria is emerging from almost half a century of state monopoly and is still in a nascent state that offers both attractions and risks to the first new wave of private firms.

Man is the world’s largest hedge fund group, with more than $65 billion in assets. It also claims to be the greenest hedge fund. CEO Peter Clarke tells Helen Avery how alternative investment firms can offer the returns investors want and play a positive role in preventing climate change.

Deutsche Bank has lost its head of European ABS origination, Jeff Stolz, to Goldman Sachs. As a managing director in the financing group, Stolz will undertake a similar role at the US firm, which has not had an ABS chief for a number of years. Deutsche has yet to announce a replacement.

Søren Elbech has been appointed chief of the treasury division of the Inter-American Development Bank. Although his is technically a new position he effectively supplants Hakan Lonaus, chief of the capital markets division, finance department. Elbech joins from Eksportfinans, where he was executive vice-president, director of treasury. He will leave the Norwegian export finance agency at the end of this November. Also leaving Eksportfinans is Oliver Siem, head of funding, deputy director of treasury, who is taking a career break.

Net jumbo Pfandbrief issuance is likely be down again this year for the third year running, while structured covered bond issuance grows apace. This is generating some bitter debate about just how much investors understand the difference between the two types of debt. Louise Bowman reports.

Standard & Poor’s has bought software services company Imake Consulting and ABSXchange, a portal for structured finance data, analytics and modelling.

Is there an opportunity to initiate new positions at better levels or has the bubble burst?

It has been a long, slow process but after more than a decade private equity dreams in Kazakhstan are becoming a financial reality. Guy Norton reports from Almaty.

Families have always dominated the economies of the Gulf, controlling huge amounts of wealth and influence but traditionally unwilling to open up their capital – and their books – to the outside world. That model is gradually starting to change, says Alex Warren.

Too many sellers and not enough buyers curtail market growth.

When the investment trust structure appeared four years ago, the securitization market jerked into action and local banks jumped on a growing opportunity. Now foreign banks are taking a fresh look at the market, eyeing the rich pickings that are emerging from securitizing receivables for corporates, banks and states. Chloe Hayward reports from São Paulo.

Vladimir Evtushenkov, the chairman of Russian conglomerate Sistema, describes his company’s focus as consumer services but is tight-lipped about what that means. It apparently stretches to stakes in oil companies and a willingness to sell off what looked like a core element of a successful insurer. Laurence Neville reports.