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As the world awakes to the possibility of a bird-flu pandemic, analysts at CLSA have assessed the economic implications for Asia of an outbreak. CLSA has compiled an index of relative economic risk based on healthcare expenditures per capita, tourist arrivals per capita and total trade as a proportion of GDP. The results might surprise most readers. Based on these three measures, Hong Kong and Singapore emerge as the economies most at risk, followed by China, Malaysia and Thailand. Despite high spending on healthcare, both Hong Kong and Singapore remain highly exposed to the economic fallout from a pandemic by dint of their high dependence on international trade. Each country also has tourist arrivals roughly twice its population.

Investors want growth and are impatient to get it. Bank CEOs are feeling the pressure, so expect more M&A activity.

Wealth management arm put on course to “grow by multiples”. The appointment of Thomas Kalaris as chief executive of Barclays Wealth Management signals the start of a rapid build-up.

Hedge funds are overflowing with money, and margins on traditional strategies are shrinking. One solution to their search for returns is to offer their services to companies in need of financing. Some are nervous about taking up the opportunities but others are discovering just how useful these new financiers can be.

Why pension funds need commodity exposure

In another sign of the rapid modernization of China’s capital markets, the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, became the first foreign institutions to issue renminbi-denominated bonds, known as panda issues.

Was there an ulterior motive for CMC Group’s decision to drop the deal4free brand?

Kyrgyzstan’s central bank governor, Ulan Sarbanov, has been placed under house arrest in the course of a government investigation into funds he transferred to the previous president, Askar Akayev, in 1999.

The jumbo covered bond market was 10 years old this year. Its key characteristic has always been liquidity. But one analyst thinks this is no longer the case. Is the jumbo market in for a shock? Mark Brown finds out more.

As with the recent elections of the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno’s appointment as president of the Inter-American Development Bank proved controversial. The diplomat was the Bush administration’s firm favourite. Given that the US is the IDB’s single-biggest shareholder, with a 30% share of the vote, that made it a near certainty that Moreno would get the nod.

State-owned Vneshtorgbank is set to continue its rapid expansion via a share swap to acquire several foreign banks owned by the Russian central bank, including London-based Moscow Narodny Bank and Paris-based Eurobank.

Why CFOs should stop mistrusting hedge funds