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It seems that some banks will pull out all the stops to feature prominently in Euromoney’s influential FX poll. Word filters through of gifts being sent out and clients being lavished with entertainment. The managing director of one prominent bank was so eager to start the lobbying process that he emailed Euromoney asking: “Fri 5pm: should I unleash hell? Is the site ready? Let the games commence...” Just exactly which games he was about to unleash in hell is unclear, but one of his disgruntled clients has complained of being hassled, almost non-stop, to vote. “I told all the banks I’d fill it [the poll] in when I was ready, not before,” he moaned.

As gold has traded up to 25-year highs, the Canadian dollar has weakened, despite the products’ strong long-term correlation. Does this mean that the relationship has broken down?

Foreign hedge fund managers registering with the SEC might be caught out by a NASD ruling on IPOs, say lawyers. Foreign managers investing in US or non-US IPOs are subject to the US securities regulator’s ‘new issue’ ruling if those managers use a US broker/dealer.

Those banks distributing goodies in the hope of influencing the poll (against the rules, we hasten to add) might do well to remember that clients are often an ungrateful bunch. Apparently, one Japanese client of a UK clearing bank complained about the iPod Shuffles it received for Christmas. It was not the fact that iPods are made by one of its competitors that caused the problem. No, it was the fact that the Shuffle is at the bottom of the iPod range.

The growing number of FX transactions being settled through CLS Bank is strong evidence that the market is still expanding.

The biggest LBO club deals of 2005 will soon be surpassed.

SAB Miller, the world’s third-largest brewer, announced in January its intention to establish a brewery in Vietnam through a 50:50 joint venture with Vinamilk, Vietnam’s leading dairy products company. The $45 million venture will be based near Ho Chi Minh City and will make use of Vinamilk’s extensive distribution network. The aim is to develop a Vietnamese beer brand that will be supported by a premium SAB Miller brand.

Few financial issues in Asia are debated as hotly as the state of China’s banking system and the billions continually poured into mainland lenders by foreign financial institutions and lenders as the banking market is slowly opened up.

CNOOC finally closed a significant Nigerian oil deal in January.

Japan’s corporate sector has spent the past few years selling businesses off to pay down debts and restructure but there is gathering evidence of the emergence of a more acquisitive bent.

Lotte Shopping, a stores-to-cinemas group and one of the biggest retailers in Korea, launched its IPO in January as a dual listing in Korea and London, with Goldman Sachs and Nomura Securities as joint global coordinators and Daewoo Securities handling the domestic IPO. Although pricing will not be fixed until the end of January, the valuation, believed to be up to $3.8 billion, means this will be comfortably Korea’s largest IPO. In addition to the domestic and international listings, Nomura Securities will undertake a public offer without listing in Tokyo.

US carrier United Airlines has pledged the rights to some of its most valuable routes as collateral for a new loan that it hopes will take it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As well as route rights between the US and London Heathrow and Japan, China, Hong Kong and Japan, it is also pledging $2.6 billion in aircraft and spare parts in a desperate bid to find collateral for the six-year $3 billion syndicated loan. United needs the new cash to pay off its debtor-in-possession financing. The company filed for bankruptcy in December 2002.