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HBOS Treasury Services is delighted to announce that Peter Macfarlane is joining its capital markets team as a director within the securitisation group. Peter will head up the group's project bonds and infrastructure securitisation efforts.

The second quarter of 2004 will see an increase in the rate of staff hiring in the finance departments at US corporates - the third consecutive quarterly rise - according to the Robert Half international financial hiring index.

CEO succession, executive compensation, strategic planning, the nomination of directors and risk oversight are some of the areas that corporate boards are still grappling with more than a year after they were scared straight by the downfall of companies such as Enron and WorldCom.

Commerzbank Securities has added Ross Long to its FX trading business. Long brings experience from Bank of America as a senior FX trader as well as holding similar posts at RBS Trust Bank and Bank Gesellschaft. "We are delighted to have Ross on board," enthuses Nozar Hussain, global head of FX trading at Commerzbank. "This hire will continue to strengthen ComSec's FX spot trading capabilities as part of our hiring plan in FX trading. His in-depth experience and broad skill base will significantly enhance our trading capabilities."

Europe's treasurers are looking to maximise the regional centralisation of cash balances as the process is considered best practice in the market, according to a survey carried out on behalf of ABN AMRO. Seventy percent of treasurers are looking to use multi-bank cash concentration services in the belief they will achieve improved operational efficiency, a reduced workload and higher returns from larger cash balances. Almost half the survey's respondents choose to centralise cash balances across Europe while 61% indicated that pan-European centralisation was preferable to a country-by-country basis.

The quarterly reporting lobby has been dealt a severe body blow after an influential European parliamentary committee rejected the proposal.

Deutsche Bank has hired Sanjay Agarwal to lead its Indian corporate finance business. Agarwal was previously co-head of investment banking at Kotak Mahindra Capital, the local JV partner of Goldman Sachs.

Media sector deal values are predicted to reach €20 billion in 2004 and the number of transactions will exceed 100, according to the latest Media Insights report from PwC Corporate Finance.

Four months after a management shake-up at Chicago-based accounting firm BDO Seidman LLP, about 30 of 280 partners have been let go.

After over two years of doom and gloom in the corporate finance job market, things finally are looking up.

An improving U.S. economy, particularly a pickup in capital investment, growing demand for commercial equipment, and firming in selected real estate markets, bodes well for commercial finance companies in 2004, according to Standard & Poor's. It believes that if the economic improvement that began in the second half of 2003 stays on track, it should boost finance companies' asset quality, collateral values, profitability, and portfolio growth in the coming year.

Consultancy spending rose by 9.4% last year, helping UK consultants earnings to top the £10 billion mark for the first time, according to new figures from the Management Consultancies Association. The rate of growth - twice that recorded in 2002 - was driven in the last quarter of 2003 by outsourcing consultancy services, which grew by 4.8%. The growth reflected the ongoing trend towards OCS and IT related consulting, which has increased by 28% in the last twelve months and doubled in the last five years.