March 2006
| Euromoney March 2006 In December 2001, the government defaulted on $81.8 billion of debt repayments and broke the peso’s link with the dollar. When Nielsen was appointed in May 2002, the country was in the midst of one of the worst financial, social and political crises to hit any country since the Great Depression. His job, together with that of his economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, was to help restore stability and turn around Argentina’s financial fortunes. |
Euromoney March 2006
More than 50% of Citigroup’s corporate and investment banking revenues come from outside north America, so emerging markets are the cornerstone of its success or failure. It already dominates some areas but can it blow the competition away in every product and in every region? Sudip Roy reports.
Euromoney March 2006
With the notable exception of Deutsche Bank, German investment banks’ performance has lagged their French peers for most of the decade. But the German sector is picking up on new market possibilities, with Commerzbank in particular looking to rebuild its business after a dramatic recovery. Philip Moore reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Lawyers are cashing in by advising managements of public companies in ways to ward off evil hedge fund activists. But activism, handled with decorum, can be positive for management and investors. And who better to be an activist than a hedge fund manager? Helen Avery reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Manic demand for returns is putting Latin American issuers in the driving seat, calling the shots on subjects such as length of maturity, target investor base and restructuring opportunities. Theodore Kim reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Further consolidation in Latin America’s banking industry is expected on the back of strong economic growth and financial stability. Foreign banks, which were active acquirers in the 1990s, are expected to play a big part in this. Leticia Lozano reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Latin America’s local-currency markets are no longer a sideshow for esoteric investors. Today, many emerging market portfolio managers have exposure. But, as Felix Salmon reports, the growth of domestic supply and demand will drive these markets forward.
Euromoney March 2006
Latin American companies are shedding reputations for irresponsible management to become competitors, and even leaders, in the global markets. So much so that some don’t even want to be considered Latin any more. Lawrence White analyses the results of Euromoney’s first survey of the best-managed companies in the region.
Euromoney March 2006
A mixture of accounting issues, demographics, trends in the equity market and a sharp fall in bond yields has revealed the chasm between the assets and liabilities of pension funds in the UK, Europe and the US. Many will be unable to pay their pension promises in full. Most will be pushed into liability-driven investment strategies. But are they a real solution or an expensive act of desperation?
Euromoney March 2006
The country’s banks are successful and stable. But a small domestic market leaves a difficult choice: concentrate on building at home or seek to expand overseas. Laurence Neville reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Supply of both Islamic-compliant and conventional instruments has so far failed to keep up with the voracious levels of demand across the Middle East, but there are signs that product-starved investors might now begin to see a steadier flow, though far-reaching challenges remain. Kathryn Wells reports.
Euromoney March 2006
It’s not easy to see, but behind the trillions of dollars of FX trading a collision between new technology and traditional banking is changing the economics and mechanics of the business. So far, participants talk politely of cooperation.
Euromoney March 2006
The market is attractive to potential foreign acquirers, but the process of acquisition is proving far from easy. Patrick Gill reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Oil producers strike it rich, but long-term issues remain
The high price of oil highlights the fact that many economies are too reliant on raw materials exports, with governments creating unfavourable conditions for foreign investment through neglect or for political reasons. Florian Neuhof looks at the main drivers behind Euromoney’s latest country risk poll.
Euromoney March 2006
The financial rehabilitation of Korean chipmaker Hynix offers salutary lessons for the region. Once the company was an embarrassment that an entire country wanted to go away. Now its creditors will reap a bonanza from a deal that they never even wanted. Chris Leahy reports from Seoul.
Euromoney March 2006
A hostile bid in the Malaysian banking market is almost unheard of. But CIMB's pursuit of Southern Bank has provoked more than just headlines, and now almost every major banking group in the country is in play.
Euromoney March 2006
Taiwan is desperately overbanked and the unprofitable financial sector is crying out for successful consolidation and rationalization, rather than ill-judged government initiatives. But that has not stopped foreign investors buying into the market for the first time. Nick Parsons reports
Euromoney March 2006
Foreign investors are back in Thailand to scoop up bargains. The timing couldn’t be better for a new drive to develop the capital markets but politics could get in the way of some important deals. Peter Koh reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Thai capital markets are set for a bull run. SCB's president, Khunying Jada Watthanasiritham, expains how her bank, and other local firms, can profit despite growing interest from international banks.
Euromoney March 2006
India’s distressed debt market has a problem. Specialist firms, often set up by a consortium of banks, buy the assets from one arm of a bank, package them up, and then have to sell them back to the original banks. After intense lobbying from firms such as Arcil, the Indian government has changed the rules. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha reports.
Euromoney March 2006
Grupo Santander is often considered to be among the sharpest of borrowers, and it certainly has one of the biggest profiles. José Antonio Soler, who has run its funding operation for a year and a half, talks to Alex Chambers about the group’s quest for new pools of capital and its developing issuance strategy.
Euromoney March 2006
The FSA took a couple of years but the UK regulator has finally accepted the concept of covered bonds; the Netherlands will be next.
Euromoney March 2006
The syndicated loans sector’s transformation from dominance by bank holders to a growing role for institutional investors has already happened – now the predominance of hedge funds is encouraging new technology.
Euromoney March 2006
Reserve confirms Wachovia deal qualifies for tier 1. And that could spark over $40 billion of copycat deals.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
It’s the time of the year, with the bonus season over, when people moves are back in swing. So far, several have caused a bit of a stir.
Euromoney March 2006
The UK government’s commitment to imminent PFI transactions appears to be wavering. Have critics of the funding strategy won the argument?
Euromoney March 2006
LBOs and technicals have boosted betting on the continuing steepness of the European credit curve. But nothing good lasts for ever and several things could upset the apple cart.
Euromoney March 2006
The rapid influx of new managers to the CDO market is a staffing headache for established players.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
The sale of Hotspot has prompted a torrent of speculation about the future of other ECNs. But it seems the rumours about new owners for FXall are true.
Euromoney March 2006
Barclays believes there’s plenty of room for growth, helped by streaming prices on its own trading platform.
Euromoney March 2006
Bank of America gets the edge with its acquisition of Financial Labs.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
A former FX salesman at JPMorgan Chase in New York has been arrested and charged with wire fraud. Terrence Gumbs apparently hid an unauthorized trade, which cost the bank about $6 million in losses, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in New York.
Euromoney March 2006
Ucits III opens the door to sustainable growth of single-stock futures. Over the past five years the exchange’s USF market has grown by an average of 57% a year, and there may be more to come.
Euromoney March 2006
Research overturns the paradigm that strong currencies provide superior returns.
Euromoney March 2006
This could be just the beginning of a battle between exchanges and their users.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
DrKW has embraced blogging in a big way. The fondness for internet opinion boards has spread from the bank’s IT staff to the rest of the bank, which now has about 300 internal web logs, used for sharing work ideas.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Increasing regulatory costs for hedge fund managers are leading large players to make a U-turn and look to outsource back-office functions, says Tom Kerns, global head of client reporting and product integration at Deutsche Bank Global Prime Services.
Euromoney March 2006
The Swiss bank is making determined efforts to grow its US private banking business.
Euromoney March 2006
The number of Middle East-based hedge funds is set to increase. In January, Abu Dhabi headquartered First Gulf Bank launched the first hedge fund of significance in the region. The fund, Al Saqer (“the Falcon”), is a macro-strategy hedge fund and has a capitalization of Dh3 billion ($817 million).
Euromoney March 2006
The problems of open-ended real estate funds might pave the way for the rapid success of Reits.
Euromoney March 2006
Invest with female mutual fund managers to save on trading costs
Euromoney March 2006
Fund managers' priorities for 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Second-lien financings grew dramatically in 2005. Total US second-lien loan issuance alone amounted to more than $22 billion in 2005. In Europe, second-lien issuance totalled €5.75 billion in 2005, rising from €1.88 billion in 2004.
Euromoney March 2006
US state’s decision to pass a law protecting a bank from shareholder activists is seen as a setback for investors.
Euromoney March 2006
As KPMG wins a $5.4 billion advisory mandate, are consultants stealing big deals from investment banks?
Euromoney March 2006
Jorge Maortua, deputy head of global wholesale banking for Grupo Santander and the group’s head of treasury services, is running a fast-growing business. Perhaps more important, his division, while finding alternatives to traditional low-margin lending, is building key relationships with the bank’s clients, including small and medium-size enterprises.
Euromoney March 2006
A US Federal court case may force Congress to consider amendments to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Stock market reforms and restructuring portend further share price rises. There is money to be made, say fund managers, for those with patience and diligence.
Euromoney March 2006
Where developed western markets go, Asia’s markets usually follow. Bankers in the region are confident that’s true of hybrid securities. From a buy-side perspective, hybrids have arrived already. As many as a dozen international issuers, most conspicuously from Latin America, have successfully tapped an Asian retail market driven principally by private bank clients hungry for yield.
Euromoney March 2006
There was a message of serious intent in the choice of syndicate for Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa’s proposed flotation of its Italian 3G business. The message from the market was equally clear. Despite the best efforts of Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to get the deal away, the US$7 billion price offered by investors was simply too unpalatable for an investment that has cost Hutchison between US$8 billion and US$9 billion. The IPO was pulled.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Asian-based hedge funds generated 30% of all reported commissions earned by brokers over the past 12 months on trades of Asian stocks.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
GDP warrants on the sovereign bond exchange are proving a hot market.
Euromoney March 2006
Rio de Janeiro now offers a developing market alternative to Chicago.
Euromoney March 2006
New report calls on multilateral to issue more benchmark bonds.
Euromoney March 2006
Government rumoured to be planning new bond deal although holdouts issue remains unresolved.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Dollar bond with enhanced curve is a sign of bigger things to come.
Euromoney March 2006
Synthetic bond is a precursor to bonds in Egyptian pounds.
Euromoney March 2006
The Iranian authorities’ recent granting of operating licences to two new private banks (Bank Sarmaye Daneshgah and Bank Pasargeda) suggests that the sector has a future, despite president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apparent disdain for his predecessor’s reformist agenda.
Euromoney March 2006
Fitch and S&P put Nigeria’s risk of default on the same level as Brazil and Turkey.
Euromoney March 2006
Focus is on the potential for corporate debt outperformance in 2006.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
How will money be made in emerging markets debt when bid-ask margins are anorexic and expected returns uncompetitive?
Euromoney March 2006
Bond investors are starting to clamour for extra protection as buyout risk increases.
Euromoney March 2006
Hedge fund managers are increasingly shopping around and using more than one prime broker at the same time.
Euromoney March 2006
The US bank has made an expensive foray into China’s banking market, with little to show from two-and-a-half years’ work and millions of dollars spent.
Euromoney March 2006
Latin America’s development bank has to change tack as countries in the region rely less on dollar funding.
Euromoney March 2006
Financial sponsors now account for an important chunk of advisory fees, but not all banks are cashing in.
Euromoney March 2006
Our December cover story, The problem with foreign exchange, has sparked debate about the structure of today's FX market. Responses to the feature are still arriving at the Euromoney office.
Euromoney March 2006
Argentina’s debt default, devaluation and subsequent recovery is, along with Enron’s fall from grace, the biggest financial story of the decade.
Euromoney March 2006
Acquired asset managers often fail to fulfil their promise, as Deutsche Bank has found more than once. But Deutsche’s parachuting of Axel Schwarzer into US firm DWS Scudder looks set to be a success story.
Euromoney March 2006
With Mario Draghi taking up a position on the European Central Bank’s governing council, and Jürgen Stark set to be the next new member, the inner sanctum is likely to become more pragmatic than doctrinaire.
Euromoney March 2006
Conflict over oil and gas supplies is set to fuel tension between western Europe and Russia in coming years.
Euromoney March 2006
FX heads aspire for gold in L’Etape du Tour bike race.
Euromoney March 2006
Jollibee Bee, mascot, all dressed up to collect company's award for Best-managed consumer goods company in Asia.
Euromoney March 2006
Lehman's Grant Bowman has a taste of Superbowl fame in the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
The Lehman Bond Show will now be available via podcast.
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006
Euromoney March 2006