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Buying into the IPO of a private equity company is like a game of pass the parcel in which someone has already made off with the prize. Those that choose to play will end up disappointed.

Icap has widened the distribution of its electronic forward foreign exchange platform after what it says is its successful take-up in Europe. The company says the platform will build on the success of EBS, the spot platform it bought from its mainly bank owners in 2006.

In the second half of last year, outstanding volumes of credit default swaps grew by 33%. This compares with the first half of the year, when outstanding CDS volumes grew by 52%. In 2005, CDS volumes rose by 105%. The numbers were produced by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, which announced on April 18 the results of its year-end 2006 market survey of privately negotiated derivatives.

• FX is experiencing lower levels of volatility in a benign, low-risk environment but this is not necessarily a bad thing for the market and there are still opportunities to make money

Belgian bancassurance player KBC has become the latest foreign bank to buy into Russia. Late in April it agreed to pay up to €761 million to acquire at least 92.5% of Absolut Bank, 3.8 times the book value. It is the biggest banking M&A deal in Russia. Absolut Bank is one of the fastest-growing banks in Russia and has doubled its loan book on an annual basis for the past five years. "Over the past decade, KBC has built up a strong presence in many of the countries that joined the EU in May 2004 and January 2007. KBC’s long-term strategic plans entail further expansion in the markets of emerging Europe. Russia is therefore an extension of our existing presence in neighbouring central and eastern Europe," says André Bergen, KBC Group chief executive.

"It was one of those deals that really worked. It caught the market, it caught the moment and it caught the imagination" -Tim Skeet, Merrill Lynch

Is a high level of consolidation in the FX market sustainable? And what of the hundreds of banks that fall outside the bulge bracket?

CEZ leads the way for CEE corporates

Euromoney collected data for its 2007 FX survey by polling named individuals at industrial and commercial corporations, financial institutions, institutional investors and state agencies.

Euromoney collected data for its 2007 FX survey by polling named individuals at industrial and commercial corporations, financial institutions, institutional investors and state agencies.

The present run of stock market buoyancy cannot be sustained. And that’s not just because credit is set to contract – so, too, are corporate profits.

"And what drives me? I want to create a huge empire. That is what drives me. And as long as God is willing and gives me strength and I am healthy, I will do that"