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Just as Schroders Investment Management joins the ranks of company pension funds to dramatically cut equity exposure, the debate about the merits of such moves is heating up.

With their core jobs as trustees and paying agents commoditized, corporate trustees are relishing the chance to carve out a new role for themselves on structured credit deals.

As economic growth slows in 2006, more businesses are expected to fail, with the biggest increases likely in Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US.

A trader at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo accidentally sold 610,000 shares in J-Com for ¥1 instead of one share for ¥610,000.

ABN Amro bit off more than it could chew when it tried to sell a 4.9% stake in Dutch Telecom company KPN for the Dutch government in December. The bank was unable to offload the entire €883 million block and was left with stock on its books that rivals estimate could be worth hundreds of millions of euros. At least ABN Amro was in good company. Lehman Brothers and HVB also bungled a pre-Christmas trade. Lehman and HVB Corporates & Markets tried to sell an €804 million block of Munich Re shares, equivalent to about 3% of the company’s outstanding shares, at a price range of €116.75 to €117.50 a share, but the deal, on behalf of HVB’s parent, closed at just €116.30. Rivals believe the two might be facing seven-digit losses.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is helping to develop securitization structures in central and eastern Europe. Sudip Roy reports.

This survey has been designed to provide a qualitative and quantitative review of the best services in private banking, organized by region and areas of service. It also aims to be an informative guide for high net-worth individuals on the range of service providers that are available.

In an open letter to market participants, the New York-based Foreign Exchange Committee has warned about some of the dangers posed by the advent of retail FX products. The committee says technology often separates “the wholesale foreign exchange dealer from the end user, perhaps by multiple intermediaries”. This makes it difficult for banks to “know their customer”, and possibly hampers such compliance measures as anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism obligations.

A recent report by BreakingViews has revived the familiar story that EBS is up for sale, claiming that the company was hawking itself around via its adviser, Citigroup. The £1 billion ($1.8 billion) valuation that BreakingViews has put on EBS looks a little toppy and might well scare potential suitors away. Back-of-the-fag-packet calculations suggest that EBS captures about 20% of the total spot market. As FX volumes are still expected to grow, and EBS could quite conceivably increase its market share, someone with deep pockets might well decide it is worth a punt, even at £1 billion. However, whether its multiple owners will ever agree on the attractions of a suitor remains to be seen.

The security for the sixth ministerial conference was intense but Korean protesters were still able to set off a police fishing operation and the director-general did not escape a barracking, while residents wonder what it’s all for.

Europe is in better shape than a cursory examination of its politicians might suggest.

Like bespoke tailors, private bankers have to offer clients just that little bit extra.