April 2008
| Euromoney April 2008 As financial stress grows, economies
weaken and companies see risks
looming at every turn, insurers
offer themselves up as strategic
risk advisers. They must prove their
risk engineering skills, upgrade
systems, overhaul archaic industry
practices and adapt to capital market
investors seeking insurance exposure.
Euromoney polls 255 leading
corporations to fi nd which insurers
and brokers are doing the best job. - Insurance poll 2008
“Misunderstanding risk is, now more than ever, a potentially fatal risk for business” -Gregory Case, Aon Corporation
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Euromoney April 2008
Commodity prices continue to break records, defying the spectre of slowing growth in the US and the performance of other asset classes. With some commentators attributing the price rises to the billions being poured in by investors, is it boom or bubble? Peter Koh reports.
Euromoney April 2008
Abu Dhabi wants to be a global capital city: a pleasant hub for industry and high-class tourism. To attain that goal, it is looking for outside investment. But despite a stated desire for more independent business, the ruling family is still omnipresent.
Euromoney April 2008
Even given its tumultuous history, the past few months have been especially volatile in Pakistan, highlighted by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. From a financial perspective, the country faces several problems, in particular rising inflation. Shamshad Akhtar, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, tells Sudip Roy why, despite this, she is confident about the nation’s medium-term prospects.
Euromoney April 2008
Costs are rising in Asian private banking but the vast and untapped pools of wealth in the region mean that it is still a highly attractive business proposition. The adverse market environment will further reduce margins. However, on a long-term basis the opportunities are too good to miss. Helen Avery reports.
Euromoney April 2008
They are China’s emerging rich: hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs making money hand over fist. They want that money to work hard for them. And they are the target market for a new domestic industry: private banking. Chris Wright reports.
Euromoney April 2008
Thailand’s People Power Party government bears a close resemblance to Thaksin Shinawatra’s overthrown administration, and Thaksin is widely seen as its eminence grise. The government has big plans for infrastructure development but it is highly exposed to a contraction of US export demand and the potential for inflation. Eric Ellis reports.
Euromoney April 2008
Icap’s launch of an insurance derivatives and securities broking joint venture will promote liquidity and transparency in this fast-growing niche. If new sources of capital prove resilient to soft markets, insurers may see them as a new strategic challenge.
Euromoney April 2008
Any product that combines the words “catastrophe” and “securitization” is going to be a tough sell in this market. But insurance-linked securities are a rare sector of spread stability and growth in the credit world. Louise Bowman reports.
Euromoney April 2008
The stellar returns from reinsurance that lured in hedge funds in the wake of the 2005 hurricanes have dissipated. But this won’t deter managers with long-term strategic plans, reports Helen Avery.
Euromoney April 2008
Will the long-awaited recovery in the German real estate market be stopped in its tracks by turmoil in the debt markets? Louise Bowman reports.
Euromoney April 2008
Last month Euromoney wrote about how the valuations service sector was heating up. Financial data provider Markit subsequently announced a new multi-dealer valuations platform. Chief executive Lance Uggla explains to Alex Chambers how the firm is broadening its offerings from credit to OTC equities.
Euromoney April 2008
Brian Stevenson is the head of the new global transaction services division at RBS, following its acquisition of ABN Amro’s business. In his first interview since he took the job, he talks to Laurence Neville about separation, integration and what the future holds.
Euromoney April 2008
The credit crunch is inevitably limiting banks’ ability to offer supply chain finance services. But demand for these is set to keep growing, so the broader effect might be consolidation of the business into the hands of a few truly global banks. Laurence Neville reports.
Euromoney April 2008
While investment bankers in the west expect a difficult 2008, counterparts in Asia cite the successful closing of buyouts, bond issuances and IPOs during the market turmoil as proof of the region’s opportunities. Lawrence White reports.
Euromoney April 2008
Awash with cash that far exceeds domestic investment opportunities, Australia’s pension funds are continuing to expand their holdings in global and alternative assets, developing an expertise paralleled by that of the country’s banks. Chris Wright reports.
Euromoney April 2008
With the public markets all but closed, issuers have turned to private and structured products to fulfil their requirements. Those who have maintained the best relationships with their investors and dealers have proved best able to ride out the turmoil, printing deals at half their CDS levels or better. Infrequent borrowers and those who have taken cheap funding for granted are in for a shock.
Euromoney April 2008
The Fed is finding innovative ways to fund US financial institutions to combat the systemic risk that has done for Bear Stearns.
Euromoney April 2008
Rating agency considers wider implications of CDO methodology change.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Accusations of sharp practice are flying as the loan market struggles to deal with its problems.
Euromoney April 2008
ECBC plenary meeting divided about how to handle market making.
Euromoney April 2008
Despite widespread investor puts of pre-crunch extendible notes, the sector is experiencing a relatively good 2008, with investors calling the shots.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Last month two interdealer brokers unveiled their participation as official venues for the trading of Dutch bonds.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Its strength in emerging markets makes it a serious player in FX.
Euromoney April 2008
Even though spreads for most foreign exchange products are often so thin that they barely exist, the use of transaction cost analysis (TCA) to measure execution is on the increase.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Investors in equity-linked structured notes are becoming increasingly concerned about counterparty credit risk, and are therefore becoming more discerning when it comes to choosing which institutions to buy their products from, report dealers.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
With big declines and huge daily swings, stock markets around the world looked even less welcoming to new issuers in March than they had for much of the year, during which time companies fearful of a cold reception had withdrawn or postponed more than $20.5 billion-worth of deals.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
But CDO managers are paying a premium, especially in the US.
Euromoney April 2008
But lenders will price to encourage trading.
Euromoney April 2008
"The private equity party is over," says Kevin Dolan, chief executive of $5 billion fund of hedge funds La Fayette Investment Management in London. The credit crunch has made it difficult for private equity firms to take companies private, and that is good news for activist hedge funds, he claims.
Euromoney April 2008
Don’t confuse a lack of deals with inactivity; allocations to private equity are set to rise.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Highly levered funds are always at the mercy of credit and liquidity suppliers. So be wary of those active in markets where liquidity can rapidly dry up, says Neil Wilson.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Rapid growth can mean rising inflation, as Vietnam is discovering.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
If Japan’s property bubble has already expanded and popped, China’s might be close to bursting.
Euromoney April 2008
Funds move to more aggressive investment strategies.
Euromoney April 2008
Despite reporting its first annual loss in 2007 and forecasts of further credit write-downs in the first quarter, Merrill Lynch is getting out the chequebook for its Latin American business. The firm has gone on a shopping spree and plucked the cream of the Latin American investment banking crop, especially in Brazil.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Cross-border partnerships are tricky at the best of times. Each side tends to be wary of the other. Often cultural differences come to the fore. And then there’s the internal politics. So the failure of Barclays and Absa, the South African bank in which Barclays holds a 60% stake, to reach agreement on the sale of the UK bank’s other African businesses will only reinforce the impression that the relationship is tense.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
US investment bank Merrill Lynch has created a new infrastructure equities index, giving investors convenient access to the projected infrastructure boom in Russia.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
Are banks biting the hand that feeds them? Perhaps, but what choice do they have?
Euromoney April 2008
Local-currency debt markets in emerging economies are beginning to suffer from the credit crisis and broader global slowdown.
Euromoney April 2008
If there’s another Bear Stearns or Northern Rock-style blow-up, will any other bank be willing or able to pick up the pieces?
Euromoney April 2008
It’s pitiful trying to blame short sellers for the woes of the financial system.
Euromoney April 2008
Far from solving BAA’s financial problems, the CAA’s regulatory review will make life for it even worse.
Euromoney April 2008
A merger of BNP Paribas and Société Générale would be difficult to fund and to execute.
Euromoney April 2008
Measures to boost the competitiveness of Brazil’s exporters might well be fruitless.
Euromoney April 2008
Unless Japan gets more involved in international capital markets, perhaps through a sovereign wealth fund, it is likely to become increasingly irrelevant in Asian finance.
Euromoney April 2008
The covered bond market has not behaved in the way investors had been led to believe it would. It’s time to realize that covered bonds are not the golden child of the bond family.
Euromoney April 2008
We are engulfed in a tornado of gloom. Wall Street titans and employees alike have seen their share options decimated, pension pots plummet and everyone feels insecure about job security. I’m hearing that investment banks need to cut 20% of their employees to accommodate lower profitability.
Euromoney April 2008
More assets are yet to be hit in the credit crisis and, as leverage continues to fall out of play, liquidity will keep on drying up. Equity prices are bound to fall still further too.
Euromoney April 2008
Much is made of Ben Bernanke’s academic work on the Great Depression. However, the Fed chairman seems to making policy with one eye on the recent Japanese debt deflation cycle.
Euromoney April 2008
All market participants must still confront the reality of near total market failure across the debt and money markets, an inability to sell even quality assets for cash or to borrow against them and a complete loss of faith between financial institutions. More public money is surely coming, but how can it repair this?
Euromoney April 2008
"It is an inauspicious year because the rat year brings about slower world economies where unemployment, money matters and environment matters would be the key issues. There would be plenty of natural disasters/diseases which could affect the world."
Euromoney April 2008
Bankers at HSBC’s Canary Wharf headquarters have issued a damning verdict on their own staff canteen by adding a review of it to the popular London restaurant guide London Eating, giving it an overall score of just 2.5/10.
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008
"Low sovereign default rate reflects buoyant global market conditions."
Euromoney April 2008
Euromoney April 2008