October 1998
| Euromoney October 1998 With markets in turmoil and attention switching from returns to credit quality, new ways for assessing counterparties are needed. Our second emerging-market bank (Emba) ratings bring a temperature-taking approach to credit. While rating agencies pore over accounts and spend hours interviewing managers, we use the raw financial ratios that drive much of the ratings process. The results are always provocative. This year Emba highlights island paradises in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean where economies and banks have stayed clear of the fallout from global markets. Those seeking banking peace and pina coladas should read on. Brian Caplen reports. |
Euromoney October 1998
Two decades and billions of dollars ago, Wall Street's most noble credit institution began to reinvent itself as a hybrid investment-cum-wholesale bank. For a while it seemed unstoppable. But this year JP Morgan stumbled - amid rumours of takeover. Parity with those bulge bracket firms still seems so near - and yet so far. Antony Currie reports.
Euromoney October 1998
Leading banks, academics and regulators spent two days stress-testing themselves and the latest in credit risk models. David Shirreff reports.
Euromoney October 1998
It's the only private-sector bank to have retained its triple-A rating. What's more, Rabobank is the only foreign bank to have an office in Wagga Wagga. This cooperative, with 467 member banks in the Netherlands, was viewed as a domestic farmers' bank. But for three years that has been changing. First there were moves into insurance and asset management in the Netherlands. Then, for the past year-and-a-half, Rabobank International has been developing as an investment bank. Antony Currie spoke to Henk Visser, member of Rabobank Group's managing board, and Alex von Ungern-Sternberg, head of global investment banking.
Euromoney October 1998
Meet some of the world's biggest investors. The 10 largest Japanese life insurance companies control assets of more than $1 trillion. But with a protected market and no shareholders to answer to, they have always done things a little differently to the rest of us. Now as insolvency fears and foreign competition grow, that is starting to change. Jack Lowenstein reports.
Euromoney October 1998
We are dominated by ideals: perfect tax systems, monetary discipline, level playing fields and - above all - unambiguous lines of ownership. In the real world, though, financial systems and ownership structures are never quite what they seem. The governance of a US joint-stock company is not that far removed from a Chinese village-owned enterprise. And this may not be the best time to impose our ideals on Asia, argues Harrison Young.
Euromoney October 1998
Six months into European monetary union there's a crisis, but this has little to do with the euro. It's a classic banking fiasco kicked off because too many people believed in one man's Big Idea. Sound familiar? David Shirreff reports.
Euromoney October 1998
French banks are starting to restructure and consolidate. But they remain obsessed by the domestic market and are more concerned with market share than return on equity. All that will change with the euro. Rebecca Bream reports.
Euromoney October 1998
Suddenly merger mania has reached Scandinavia's most insular banking market. But as Chris Wright reports, in Norway banks that want to merge have to make some strange moves.
Euromoney October 1998
Svenska Handelsbanken and ABN Amro and its subsidiary Alfred Berg are major players in regional expansion and integration of financial services in the Nordic countries.
Euromoney October 1998
Corporate bonds are even less developed in Scandinavia that in the rest of Europe, but a ratings culture could change all that.
Euromoney October 1998
It is rare that the interests of investors and issuers coincide exactly, and when they do they have generally been forced to. That is what has happened in the European convertible market. Right now, this halfway-house hybrid does make sense as a defensive outperformer for investors, and a cheap, flexible funding tool for corporates and privatizing governments. Simon Brady reports.
Euromoney October 1998
Some of the bigger players in European equities reckon the single currency isn't a major driver of the sectoral approach - they were heading that way long ago and the real goal is to look at sectors globally. As Emu approaches, though, smaller local brokers will have to adapt to the new ways or go under. Some will sink but others will survive on specialist knowledge, particularly of small and mid-cap companies. Julian Marshall and Sudip Roy report.
Euromoney October 1998
Fund managers are deluged by research information. Brokers didn't really consider this when they first started providing data electronically. Now they've been persuaded that choice, not undifferentiated quantity, is what is wanted. Mary Cullinane and Simon Asplen-Taylor look at the latest developments.
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
In the west, shrinking government, and regions competing for funds under the euro; in the east, a need to upgrade infrastructure and outshine the sovereign credit. The emerging European municipal bond market looks more attractive than bank debt. Marcus Walker reports.
Euromoney October 1998
A falling stock market, a dearth of new deals and a faltering privatization programme: on the face of it the Egyptian securities market seems to be in trouble. But look deeper and the picture is not so bleak. Stock prices are holding up better than elsewhere and there is strong government commitment towards broadening and deepening Cairo's capital markets. Philip Moore reports.
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Euromoney October 1998
Beware the legal pitfalls of receivables financing if you are new to the game, says Christopher Stoakes.
