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GE began acquiring real estate in earnest in the 1990s at the suggestion of its commercial lenders. It has acquired so much that it now derives 10% of its earnings from property. Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s chairman and chief executive, has an unexpected problem: if he does not want GE to be cast as a property company, he may need some nimble balance sheet management. Michael Pralle, GE Real Estate’s CEO, tells Peter Lee how it feels to own so much.

Morgan Stanley’s real estate investing business has grown explosively by backing its founders’ ballsy, counter-consensus calls in Germany, Japan, and hotels and developers in emerging markets. While the firm seeks to implant this can-do spirit into its other investing businesses, the real estate arm wants to continue its outperformance in tougher market conditions. Peter Lee reports.

Fidelity has appointed Alison Puhar to its real estate senior management team as director of UK real estate. Puhar joins from Cordea Savills, where she was head of UK institutional pooled funds, her last step in a 15-year career in property fund management. In her new role, Puhar will lead Fidelity’s UK real estate business and be the principal driver of new property acquisitions in the UK.

Raymond Mikulich, co-head of real estate at Lehman Brothers with Mark Walsh, is to leave at the end of the year. Mikulich and Walsh manage one of Wall Street’s best-performing real estate funds, whose investments include the Chrysler building and 1 Times Square. It is expected that Walsh will become sole head.

While the Fed may be worrying about excess cheap credit, the Chinese may be doing something about it as they divert some of their investments to private equity.

Add your own comments, and read the views of: Zar Amrolia, global head of Foreign Exchange, Deutsche Bank; Roger Hawes and Martin Spurr, Royal Bank of Scotland; Richard Leighton, global head of FX at Standard Chartered; Chris Mandell, global head of FX at Bank of America. Expert FX comment by people in the know.

While the Fed may be worrying about excess cheap credit, the Chinese may be doing something about it as they divert some of their investments to private equity.

When the journalist becomes the story, it is not ideal. On Friday, I was in Paris to meet the delightful Grégoire Varenne, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities at Société Générale. Around 1pm as I was reading some briefing material, my mobile rang.

Add your own comments to, and read the views of: Drew Niv, chief executive officer, Forex Capital Markets; David Ogg, Head of Lava FX; Derek Sammann, Managing Director, FX Products, Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Jack Jeffery, chief executive ICAP Electronic Broking; Lars Seier Christensen, chief executive, Saxo Bank; Robin Poynder, Head of Treasury for Focus Group Accounts and Ed Nelson, Global head of business operations, treasury; Mark Warms, general manager Europe, FXAll. Expert FX comment by people in the know.

Add your own comments to, and read the views of: Richard Leighton, global head of FX at Standard Chartered; Andrew Brown, global head of FX, HSBC; Ivan Ritossa, global head of FX and head of Asian trading, Barclays Capital; Zar Amrolia, global head of Foreign Exchange, Deutsche Bank; Fabian Shey, global head of FX distribution, UBS Investment Bank; Roger Hawes and Martin Spurr, Royal Bank of Scotland; Lars Hakanson, head of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives for Europe and Asia, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking. Expert FX comment by people in the know.

Jay Rajpal and Leo Shek