September 2007
| Euromoney September 2007 Global warming is the biggest issue facing society. Markets can play a crucial role in combating climate change. Banks see a huge opportunity to be agents for good – and make plenty of money in the process. How big can green finance become? Clive Horwood investigates. - Al Gore interview: “Markets are the key to climate change”
Al Gore, the former vice-president of the US, is the most high-profile figure in the fight to force action to combat global warming. He explains why a new approach to investment is needed, adopts an unusual position in the carbon tax versus cap-and-trade debate, and says banks are generally ahead of the game – but still have a lot more to do.
|
Euromoney September 2007
Banks have come to realize that to make money from emissions trading markets they would do well to tie up with the consultants that understand the technicalities and with the corporates that own Clean Development Mechanism schemes. Peter Koh reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Baffled at first by the unwonted benevolence of the clean development mechanism, Chinese enterprises rapidly jumped on the carbon trading bandwagon. There have been instances where companies have metaphorically as much as literally cleaned up – either way the net effect is beneficial to the environment. Chris Wright reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Harnessing market forces for innovation will create technology options, and a more stable climate, for future generations, argues Jon Anda, president of the Environmental Markets Network at Environmental Defense.
Euromoney September 2007
Man is the world’s largest hedge fund group, with more than $65 billion in assets. It also claims to be the greenest hedge fund. CEO Peter Clarke tells Helen Avery how alternative investment firms can offer the returns investors want and play a positive role in preventing climate change.
Euromoney September 2007
A growing social conscience about the environment has opened up new technologies and markets that offer hedge funds new areas in which to find alpha. But it is still a nascent area and the number of players is small. Helen Avery interviews four managers to see how they are approaching the emerging asset class.
Euromoney September 2007
Market forces have the best chance of driving significant actions that will boost climate change. However the forces of resistance are strong – both from entrenched interests and the green movement itself. Charles Dumas of Lombard Street Research argues for the nuclear option.
Euromoney September 2007
In the week of August 13 participants in the financial markets – credit traders, equity investors, heads of repo desks, hedge fund managers, risk controllers, originators and capital markets bankers, credit strategists, treasurers, chief financial officers – began to lose faith in the financial system itself. But why? What happened in this momentous week and how did it affect the financial global markets? Peter Lee was pounding the sidewalks of New York, sharing the bemusement of Wall Street.
Euromoney September 2007
The liquidity crisis that blew up out of the sub-prime credit downturn reveals big gaps in understanding between senior managers at banks and the credit structurers. It also poses many questions to regulators and investors. Fairly sharing out the blame and guessing what comes next remain challenges, finds Peter Lee.
Euromoney September 2007
After every great party comes a reckoning. Because they overindulged sub-prime borrowers with unprecedented excess credit, US financial markets are facing a long and severe hangover. The American dream of homeownership for all has turned sour, while cleaning up the mess will be painful. Amid the finger-pointing, dislocation and illiquidity, though, fortunes will be made. Alex Chambers reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Net jumbo Pfandbrief issuance is likely be down again this year for the third year running, while structured covered bond issuance grows apace. This is generating some bitter debate about just how much investors understand the difference between the two types of debt. Louise Bowman reports.
Euromoney September 2007
NBG, Greece’s largest bank, is doing well out of a domestic growth surge but has recognized the need to find the fastest-growing, most profitable parts of the market. The same strategy is being applied to its ambitious expansion programme abroad. Laurence Neville reports.
Euromoney September 2007
With high profits, a low and declining cost/income ratio and an expansive global strategy, BBVA ought to be riding high in the stock markets. But some investors seem to think it is overstretching itself and have marked it down. Peter Koh reports on a success story that some in the market are not reading.
Euromoney September 2007
The optimization of working capital is the treasurer’s crucial concern – all the more so as rates rise and credit conditions tighten. Financing issues within supply chains are key, and the increasing complexities of supplier-buyer relationships are creating new credit and payment pressures.
Euromoney September 2007
Jones Lang LaSalle, this year's winner of the Euromoney/Liquid real estate poll, is expanding with the global real estate markets. CEO Colin Dyer explains why a local feeling is important in a global market, and why sustainability makes business sense.
Euromoney September 2007
The Brazilian has brought a sense of euphoria back to the country and established it one of the four key emerging nations, as part of the Bric group.
Euromoney September 2007
Serbia’s minister of the economy and former finance minister is uncompromising – and his approach has been crucial to the revival of his country’s economic fortunes.
Euromoney September 2007
The governor of Sama has led the Saudi economy through a turbulent but ultimately prosperous period during an unprecedented term of almost 25 years.
Euromoney September 2007
UBS may want to forget much of this year following the closure of its hedge fund, the departure of senior personnel and a profits warning for the second half of the year. Some investors are even calling for the group to sell its underperforming investment bank. Could the saving grace be its emerging markets business? Sudip Roy asks Huw Jenkins, CEO of the investment bank.
Euromoney September 2007
In emerging markets fixed income, three investors have raised themselves to superstar status. Mohamed El-Erian, Simon Treacher and Jerome Booth have all earned enviable reputations. Raphael Kassin’s move from ABN Amro to Credit Suisse could place him in the same firmament. Julian Marshall reports.
Euromoney September 2007
From Cuba to Zimbabwe, and from Iraq to Sudan, London-based securities firm Exotix has taken the esoteric markets label and made it its own. Following its recent split from parent company Icap, Exotix is turning away from its background in distressed debt and trading more and more assets from frontier markets. Dominic O’Neill reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Despite the fallout from US sub-prime woes, analysts are optimistic about prospects for the global economy, as commodities remain strong. But the US drops out of the top five in Euromoney’s latest country risk rankings. Oliver Hexter reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Families have always dominated the economies of the Gulf, controlling huge amounts of wealth and influence but traditionally unwilling to open up their capital – and their books – to the outside world. That model is gradually starting to change, says Alex Warren.
Euromoney September 2007
Against the background of falling oil revenues and an ambitious five-year plan, Syria is taking its first steps towards a more liberal economy. Mohammed Al-Hussein, minister of finance, spoke to Euromoney about overhauling public expenditure, issuing treasury bills and bank ownership.
Euromoney September 2007
After an absence of almost half a century, private-sector banks are once again doing business in Syria. Some three years after the first pioneers opened their doors, the country’s economic landscape is still in full transformation – and competition is beginning to heat up. Alex Warren reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Mohammad-Jafaar Mojarrad, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran, speaks to Mark Johnson about the bank’s efforts to control inflation, curb exchange rate instability and cope with the difficult security situation.
Euromoney September 2007
Sinan Al-Shabibi, governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, speaks to Sudip Roy about the bank’s efforts to control inflation, curb exchange rate instability and cope with the difficult security situation.
Euromoney September 2007
Saudi Arabia’s 2004 Capital Markets Law has brought something of a fresh start to all investment banks in the kingdom, whatever their size. But most of the smaller new entrants are aware that they need to develop niche businesses in the face of competition from larger rivals. Nigel Dudley reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Naguib Sawiris, the chairman of Orascom Telecom, has established an emerging market operation that is one of the world’s strongest-performing companies. Now he is turning his attention to Europe. He tells Chloe Hayward why his business is one of the best.
Euromoney September 2007
Africa is the last frontier. There is nowhere attracting more pioneers than Nigeria. With its large and innovative workforce, its attractions are obvious. But is it safe as an investment? Rupert Wright reports from Lagos.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Uday Kotak is India’s most successful self-made banker. In just over 20 years, he has transformed his company from humble beginnings into a financial conglomerate. As financial liberalization gathers pace, he tells Sudip Roy why he is confident of further success.
Euromoney September 2007
No one doubts that China’s banks will make acquisitions abroad. What is less clear is when the buying spree will start and what international expansion strategies the banks will deploy. The answers might not be obvious. Chris Leahy reports.
Euromoney September 2007
With successful IPOs completed and the domestic economy humming, China’s banks have never been in better shape to venture overseas, and there are compelling reasons to do so. Chris Leahy reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Often accused of being unwilling to make use of cutting-edge investment techniques, Japanese institutions are more and more attracted to the heady mix of strong ratings and high yields offered by structured credit. But the development of the market is threatened from several directions, and some worry that an over-cautious investor base could prove as dangerous as a reckless one. Lawrence White reports from Tokyo.
Euromoney September 2007
Indonesian companies have chosen to fund their businesses in esoteric ways, and that may be at the expense of developing a mature equity market. Old habits will prove tough to change. Chris Leahy reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Three years ago Khazanah, Malaysia’s state investment body, was instructed to become activist, holding on to most of the state’s corporate holdings rather than privatizing them, and setting tight performance targets. Chris Wright assesses the successful reconstructions, such as Malaysia Airlines, and those still under way, as at car maker Proton.
Euromoney September 2007
When the investment trust structure appeared four years ago, the securitization market jerked into action and local banks jumped on a growing opportunity. Now foreign banks are taking a fresh look at the market, eyeing the rich pickings that are emerging from securitizing receivables for corporates, banks and states. Chloe Hayward reports from São Paulo.
Euromoney September 2007
While one country goes from strength to strength, the rest of Latin America is seeing very slow growth in funds. Helen Avery looks at the opportunities available to managers in the region.
Euromoney September 2007
In August the markets rocked and, in turn, Argentina was dumped. Chloe Hayward goes to Buenos Aires to find out why.
Euromoney September 2007
Peru’s economic miracle has taken it to the threshold of investment-grade status and enthused the country’s local and foreign bankers, who are rapidly broadening their corporate and retail markets. Leticia Lozano reports.
Euromoney September 2007
In the wake of the August 1998 financial crisis, Russia’s regions became a banking wasteland. But on the back of this decade’s strong economic growth the regions are seeing a financial services renaissance. Guy Norton reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Vladimir Evtushenkov, the chairman of Russian conglomerate Sistema, describes his company’s focus as consumer services but is tight-lipped about what that means. It apparently stretches to stakes in oil companies and a willingness to sell off what looked like a core element of a successful insurer. Laurence Neville reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Africa’s abundant mineral resources are attracting investment from Russian companies. What’s more, the Russians are proving more popular with Africans than westerners and the Chinese. Elliot Wilson reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Russia’s flourishing mortgage market is the next big opportunity for the country’s securitization market. Jethro Wookey reports from Moscow.
Euromoney September 2007
Companies from central and eastern European countries already in the European Union have adopted an increasingly aggressive strategy of making acquisitions in their faster-growing non-EU neighbours. The aim, it seems, is to gain a foothold before traditionally stronger western European and north American firms scoop up all the best deals. Dominic O’Neill reports.
Euromoney September 2007
Serbia’s equity market has spent most of the year firmly in positive territory. But can the good times last? Guy Norton reports from Belgrade.
Euromoney September 2007
Kazakhstan’s economic boom has transformed the country into the undisputed economic leader in central Asia. But can it be a springboard for expansion in the rest of the region? Guy Norton reports from Almaty.
Euromoney September 2007
It has been a long, slow process but after more than a decade private equity dreams in Kazakhstan are becoming a financial reality. Guy Norton reports from Almaty.
Euromoney September 2007
A fundamental change to the terms of banks’ financing is likely.
Euromoney September 2007
Repricing in the leveraged loan market means that some CLO managers have been having a field day.
Euromoney September 2007
Dramatic change ahead for quoting obligations and multiple trading platforms in sovereigns market.
Euromoney September 2007
Market-making commitment is under pressure.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
The disappearance of both CP investors and ABS buyers in August had grave consequences for those vehicles that rely on both.
Euromoney September 2007
Northern Rock’s inability to tap the wholesale funding market is a body blow for the whole sector.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Is there an opportunity to initiate new positions at better levels or has the bubble burst?
Euromoney September 2007
With various trading platforms reporting record volumes, it would be easy to think that foreign exchange had emerged from the wider market turmoil in the rudest of health. But some market participants fear that serious fault lines have been discovered in derivatives.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Merger talks between E*Trade and TD Ameritrade could be a sign of things to come.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Chi-X, the pan European alternative trading system (ATS) operated by Instinet, is starting to make waves, winning significant market share in certain stocks on some days.
Euromoney September 2007
Independent research firms feel the squeeze as fund managers consume more but spend less.
Euromoney September 2007
40,100,000,000
13
191
Euromoney September 2007
Two approaches to replication leave a gap in the market.
Euromoney September 2007
Internal Revenue Service regulations that become effective in January next year are forcing US hedge fund managers to re-evaluate how they defer fees.
Euromoney September 2007
According to a study by research and consulting firm Greenwich Associates, hedge funds generated nearly 30% of US fixed-income trading volume last year.
Euromoney September 2007
LaSalle’s hedge fund administration arm now has more than $13 billion in assets, up from $6 billion at launch in March earlier this year. It’s an impressive accrual of assets given the already crowded administration space and indicates a need for administrators with experience in structured products and CDOs.
Euromoney September 2007
A case has been filed by investors in Bear Stearns’ two hedge funds that collapsed because of sub-prime losses. The case, filed in August, claims that the bank misrepresented the extent of the sub-prime exposure in the funds.
Euromoney September 2007
Balestra Capital’s global macro fund is up 110% year-to-date. Its market analyst, Ryan Atkinson, talks to Helen Avery about how it has played the sub-prime market fallout to its advantage.
Euromoney September 2007
A research note from macroeconomic research consultant Capital Economics says that current market turmoil will lead to hedge fund losses but performance won’t be as bad as feared, and investors are unlikely to turn away from the asset class.
Euromoney September 2007
In 2006, the top 20 hedge fund and private equity fund managers earned more in 10 minutes than an average worker in the US made in the entire year, according to a report by advocacy groups Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.
Euromoney September 2007
A return of normal attrition rates does not spell the end for hedge funds and many will profit from market dislocations, says Neil Wilson, editorial director at HedgeFund Intelligence.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Fixed-income funds hit hard by CDOs/sub-prime troubles.
Euromoney September 2007
Korea’s new found openness to foreigners, as it strives to become a regional financial centre, is about to face its first test.
Euromoney September 2007
Taiwan’s grandiose plan to create a big national financial holding company by the end of 2007 has left analysts on the island cold.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
In an interview with Euromoney Zhou Xiao Chuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, reiterates that China will not be bullied into changing its exchange rate policy, admits that the central bank is watching closely for signs that the economy is overheating, and says that the People’s Republic is keeping its dollar exposure in line with the market average.
Euromoney September 2007
In any economic downturn, banks are nearly always the first businesses to suffer, which is why the recent spike in credit growth among Korea’s banks looks alarming.
Euromoney September 2007
As recent bridge collapses in the US and China illustrated, the difference between good and bad infrastructure is a matter of life and death. Nowhere is that more true than in Russia, where Soviet-era infrastructure is now creaking under the strain of coping with the increasing demands of the country’s booming market economy.
Euromoney September 2007
Baring Asset Management says the fallout from the sub-prime worries in the US is creating buying opportunities in emerging Europe, which investors would do well to take advantage of.
Euromoney September 2007
In a further sign of the burgeoning geographic ambitions of companies from Kazakhstan, oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas (KMG) has bought a 75% stake in Romania’s Rompetrol Group.
Euromoney September 2007
BGC, an inter-dealer brokerage firm, has bought Marex Financial’s emerging markets equity derivatives business for an undisclosed sum.
Euromoney September 2007
Anyone seeking evidence of the growing range of investment opportunities for private equity practitioners in Russia need look no further than the news that Mint Capital has paid $8 million for a blocking minority stake in Mone, one of the country’s leading hairdressing and beauty salon chains.
Euromoney September 2007
The Turkish banking regulation and supervision agency (BDDK) has prevented Greece’s Alpha Bank from completing its acquisition of a 50% stake in Alternatifbank.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Too many sellers and not enough buyers curtail market growth.
Euromoney September 2007
National Bank of Kuwait is hoping to gain a bank branch licence in Syria soon. The bank is still preparing its application but expects to get the green light during the next two months.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Tamweel controls one-third of Dubai’s burgeoning mortgage market. In the wake of the company’s issuance of the Gulf’s first ever internationally rated securitization, Dominic O’Neill talks to the company’s CFO and CEO.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Bankers with emerging markets backgrounds are taking most of the senior positions in their firms.
Euromoney September 2007
Private equity firms have a nice business flipping companies from one to another. But what happens when the music stops?
Euromoney September 2007
But the flood is likely to be smaller than some bullish observers expect.
Euromoney September 2007
Germany’s banking system is in dire straits, and the answer could be a radical one.
Euromoney September 2007
Have policymakers sent the wrong signal to financial markets?
Euromoney September 2007
The banks look to be overstretching themselves in borrowing abroad to fund increasingly risky domestic lending.
Euromoney September 2007
Mortgage securitization by Brazilian banks has huge potential as the mortgage market is still worth only 2.2% of GDP.
Euromoney September 2007
The problems in the SIV sector are not only the result of funding and mark-to-market distress, but also because of sloppy structuring in the first place.
Euromoney September 2007
Funds of hedge funds with underlying managers that have gone sour are understating the losses they have incurred.
Euromoney September 2007
Population-growth and climate trends point to the growing importance of agricultural commodity markets.
Euromoney September 2007
It’s not an impressive sight. Senior executives of leading financial firms have been castigating the media and investors for over-reacting to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, insisting that their own firms remain sound and yet simultaneously pleading with the central banks to come and bail them out.
It’s either a crisis or it’s not, guys. So which way do you want it?
Euromoney September 2007
A broken watch shows the correct time twice a day. I have been a high priestess of gloom for at least a year and finally I can straighten my spine and look you in the eye. There were others who felt uneasy. Many senior bankers told me that the risks being taken were unsustainable. However, it was the investment banker, Paul, who put it most pungently.
Euromoney September 2007
The global economy may be strong, but that does not make it immune to cyclical liquidity contraction.
Euromoney September 2007
Hedge funds are in the news for all the wrong reasons. But strident calls for regulation are more than just wrong, they are downright dangerous. Financial markets need hedge funds more than ever.
Euromoney September 2007
When Deutsche Bank announced in August that it had retained former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to provide insights and advice to the bank and its clients, competitors were quick to point out the irony.
Euromoney September 2007
Just when liquidity on Wall Street was starting to dry up in the summer, one US bank was taking it to a whole new dimension.
Euromoney September 2007
It’s hard to empathize with the faceless investment bank and institutional investor victims of the sub-prime crash. What’s really needed is an individual whose story people can relate to.
Euromoney September 2007
The IMF has mandated Publishing Technology, an AIM-listed provider of publishing-specific software solutions, to create an e-library, bringing all of the IMF’s resources online.
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Euromoney September 2007
Published in conjunction with: ABN AMRO Private Banking •
Banco Urquijo •
Bank Delen •
Bank Gutmann •
Citi Global Wealth Management International •
Eurobank EFG Private Banking •
Marfi n Popular Bank •
Sal Oppenheim •
SG Private Banking •
Yapı Kredi Private Banking
Euromoney September 2007
Published in conjunction with:
Global Investment House •
SAMBA Financial Group
Euromoney September 2007
Are you fully up to date with developments on Europe's exchange traded fund market? With experts predicting rapid growth in the next few years and demand for the product from both institutional and retail investors intensifying, it is essential for industry professionals to keep ahead of the game.
Euromoney September 2007
Do you know your Apportionment from your Binary Options? Your Collateralized Obligations from your Gross Redemption Yields? If not, you needn’t look any further as this exclusive downloadable guide brought to you by Euromoney has over 30 pages of terminology from the financial industry explained.
A degree of blurring and overlapping in the terminology of the banking, insurance and investment management industries has been inevitable. This guide aims to demystify many of those terms, bringing some of the more frequently used technical expressions in all three disciplines into a concise, single volume. We hope it will serve as a useful guide for market participants in all three areas of the financial services sector.
Euromoney September 2007
Latin America is on the move, undergoing
an investment and financing boom
unprecedented in its history. Latin
American companies are acquiring
globally, expanding regionally, and
investing heavily in productive capacity,
and R&D. Infrastructure projects are
proliferating throughout the region.
These developments reflect the region’s
positive economic backdrop and
corporate confidence in the economic
policies and political stability that
have come to characterize most of the
region for the past few years.
Euromoney September 2007