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AXA’s proposed extreme mortality cat bond will set the tone for the insurance securitization sector this year.

Despite changes at ministerial level, the country has achieved much in 12 months.

Bayer has played white knight for the second time this year. The German chemicals company rescued Schering from the clutches of Merck in March with a €16.5 billion offer

Bayer is one of the biggest and best-known European corporates – anything it does makes a splash. It excels in its use of innovative methods to finance acquisitions while protecting its credit profile.

UBS has appointed Tom Fox and Matthew Koder as joint global heads of equity capital markets, replacing Lucinda Riches, who has headed the division for the past seven years.

Venture capital in Latin America, led by Brazil, Chile and Mexico, has come a long way since 2003, when the industry raised just $417 million in funds. Last year, the figure reached $2 billion, according to the Latin American Venture Capital Association and, if Brazil can realize its potential, the figure could double by 2008. Brazilian pension funds, with about $120 billion in their portfolios, are making venture capital-linked investments for the first time ever this year, led by state oil workers pension fund Petros.

Bankers are unanimous in their praise of the sovereign’s strategy.

Russian firms seek investor-friendly foreign talent; investor-friendly foreign talent seek large bonuses.

It is a good job that investors don’t seem to be able to get enough of UK prime RMBS as the pipeline of such paper stood at more than £9 billion ($16.7 billion) towards the end of May. The new RMBS issuers poised to launch into this market (revealed in Euromoney’s April issue) were flexing their muscles mid-month, with Lloyds TSB confirming its RMBS programme and RBS first out of the gate with its £4.7 billion Arran Residential Mortgages Funding. The bank has decided not to set up a master trust but will have securitized £9.2 billion of UK mortgage risk via just two transactions in roughly six months when the deal closes. Arran Residential Mortgages, which accounts for half of the pipeline on its own, should get a rapturous reception, given how buyers responded to Standard Life’s latest Lothian issue, which achieved record tights for the sector with dollar-denominated triple-A paper placed at eight basis points over Libor. Later in the month Granite Mortgages saw triple-B risk sold at an eyewatering 47bp over Libor, which could go a long way to explaining the recent intense issuer interest in this sector.

Otmar Issing has been the most impressive advocate of the ECB. What happens now that the bank has lost its implicit third pillar in monetary policy?

Hedge fund managers need to realize that many investors will be attracted most by track record and big-name managers.

Singapore’s largest bank has led the way in the use of hybrid capital.