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Vietnam’s stock market is roaring as speculative money chases the few listed stocks. Reform is on the way and the potential for growth is clear. Meanwhile, the market remains over-hyped, poorly regulated and lethal for the uninitiated. Chris Leahy reports.

Three stalwarts of the European RMBS market have recently established medium-term note programmes, a sign of the cost savings that such shelf issuance can offer. ABN Amro issued a €3.9 billion partial synthetic transaction from its European Mortgage Securities Compartment vehicle, backed by loans to employees or former employees of the bank. And two non-conforming lenders have also established multi-issuance programmes: GMAC RFC has established RMAC Securities with an inaugural £1.2 billion ($2.1 billion) deal and Mortgages plc with its £575 million launch issue. The Mortgages plc platform is called Newgate Funding, and has been arranged by parent Merrill Lynch.

For any young investment professional there are few institutions that can match Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s ability to nurture talent. Adia has a very strong culture of competence building. The organization seeks the brightest and best locally and from abroad.

Record liquidity stymies growth of securitization.

The latest public finance initiative funding for UK defence ministry accommodation is Aspire Defence Finance plc, which was launched in late March, via Citigroup and HSBC. The £1.8 billion ($3.14 billion) transaction involves two series of monoline insurance-wrapped fixed-rate notes – series A wrapped by Ambac and series B by MBIA. The triple underlying credit is rated BBB/Baa3.

The London Stock Exchange’s shareholders clearly have a lot to gain from Nasdaq’s bid for the market, especially if, as is widely expected, the New York Stock Exchange joins in the fray and pushes up the price even further. But what, if anything, users stand to gain is far from clear.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has made no secret of its desire to diversify into Asia. So its agreement with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System & National Interbank Funding Centre (CFETS), China’s interbank foreign exchange and bond market, to provide electronic access to its FX and interest rate products should come as little surprise. “The signing of this agreement is a significant step in implementing our long-term Asian growth strategy,” says CME chairman Terry Duffy. “It is the result of many years of effort by Leo Melamed, our chairman emeritus, to help develop our Asian strategy as well as the contributions of other key individuals including Phupinder Gill, our president and chief operating officer, CME retired chairman Jack Sandner and president Xie Duo and his colleagues at CFETS.”

Singapore has proposed a puzzling initiative, supposedly designed to attract more hedge fund money to the Lion City. In March, the Stock Exchange of Singapore issued a consultation paper outlining its plans to list hedge funds locally. Quite why a hedge fund would want to list on SES is not explained. What is clear is that such a move would not create extra liquidity: the suggested guidelines state that there will be no dealings in listed hedge funds. The only feasible reason to list would be for prestige. But hedge funds don’t work that way and their predilection for discretion suggests that few of them would be interested.