August 2005
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LATEST ARTICLES
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Thierry Sciard is set to bring together the US house's investment management stakes
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Banks are spending more to remain competitive, but with so many firms to choose from how can they be sure a vendor will understand their needs? Euromoney's second financial technology users' survey has some answers.
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An end in sight for high-level M&A in Russia's oil and gas sector
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Commerzbank Corporates and Markets is tackling the conundrum of how to finance the Mittelstand by setting up the first Schuldschein securitization programme. Commerzbank will pool the two- to five-year, €500,000 to €5 million funding needs of different small and middle-size German enterprises to create securitizable portfolios. It launched the origination phase on July 8, and expects the first ABS issues next year.
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Global M&A volume was up 39% to $1.4 trillion in the first half of the year. However, revenues only increased 13%, further evidence of the fact that M&A advisory is not the guaranteed meal ticket it used to be.
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Visual technology to change the way financial communities react to events in the market
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In buying MBNA at the end of June, Bank of America pulled off a headline-grabbing deal. At $35 billion in stock and cash, it's the second-largest financial services deal since JPMorgan Chase bought Bank One last year and the second-largest deal overall this year after Procter &Gamble's purchase of Gillette. It was brokered largely by BoA chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis, who in a matter of days stole one of the most prized monoline credit card companies from under the noses of such rival banks as Wachovia.
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Citigroup's TreasuryVision is answering the challenge of putting PepsiCo's disparate global cashflows, emanating from 1,000 bank accounts, on a real-time system.
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"I believe it is an obligation, for those of us who have a career, to defend it and serve the country"
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Managers seek better returns in increasingly influential asset class
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"£875m for The Priory! Why buy it? Maybe they have a view on the secular growth in the bulimic market"
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A neat theory has it that long-term interest rates are stubbornly low because of excess savings in Asia. But the Federal Reserve can't get off the hook that easily
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Four hundred of the biggest names in the capital markets gathered at the Natural History Museum in London last month for the annual Euromoney Awards for Excellence dinner. Juan Manuel Cendoya, executive vice-president of Santander, and Lord Burns, chairman of Abbey, came to see Santander take the Best Bank 2005 title. A vocal contingent from Lehman Brothers (Investment Bank of the Year) also made its presence felt.
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The Italian state's packaging of a fund of official property confirms the treasury's reputation for innovation
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Investors bemoan high hedge fund fees
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It has been a glorious first half of the year for global structured finance, with volumes outperforming the plain vanilla universe for the fourth year in a row. The total rocketed up by more than a quarter, to $1.2 trillion from $944.6 billion during the first half of 2004.
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But credit tranche activity has held up despite the GMAC fallout
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There should be no false patriotism over whether it is appropriate to finance outside the domestic currency
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Bank executives are paid well to do a good job. But they should not be rewarded for failure.
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Sooner or later credit tiering will return to a structured credit market that for too long has failed to reflect differentiation in the underlying assets, deals' performance or servicer record. That's the theory anyway. Recent events, though, suggest that spreads and market sentiment remain remarkably resilient to all but the worst news. When non-conforming residential mortgage-backed securities market leader Kensington Group unveiled disappointing performance data and the use of the reserve account on RMS 15 & 16 it had an immediate impact.
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Unsecured debt markets are still open for GMAC and Ford
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Doubts, though, emerge over portal's sustainability
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Banks seek more tools to serve growing asset management clientbase on FXall
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The squeezing of grandfathered covered bonds last month has left issuers pondering how they can guarantee the liquidity of their product
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Was it Abbey that prompted the Bank of Spain to level the playing field?
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The CME and CBOT look to be the most likely candidates for a tie-up, despite their long-standing rivalry
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As cross-border acquisition grows, global banks must establish the right local presence
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Global consultancy and software provider Anvil has seized the opportunity to become the first company to design a cross-asset margining tool. In essence, the new system, dubbed Anvil Margin, will help traders, middle offices and back offices to manage collateral more effectively by operating on a multi-asset class basis. "This new product has been driven by emerging trends in the industry," says Phil Buck, CEO of North America at Anvil. "Market participants are becoming far more focused on cross-asset margining, for the simple reason that it's more efficient."
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Launches trading tool to complement existing spot service
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Private banking is an increasingly cut-throat business and there are few lengths to which private bankers will not go to pamper their clients. That might explain the curious press release that landed in Euromoney's mailbox from JPMorgan Private Bank in Hong Kong, announcing the firm's summer reading list for clients.
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Are the days of a CEO numbered? It's now estimated that the average period in office for FTSE 100 chief executives has fallen over the past 12 months to 4.6 years, according to on-line financial broadcaster Cantos. It's a worrying statistic when you look at stalwarts like Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, who has been in office since 1986.
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Taiwan: merger of equals kicks off consolidation
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Big stride taken towards gaining investment-grade status
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Lula remains favourite for second term
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Big-three providers must face up to new competitors and internalization
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G8 agreement could spur development
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Government remains committed to reforms
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Deutsche Bank's disposal of its UK asset management business (DeAM UK) and Philadelphia-based active fixed-income business to Aberdeen Asset Management will be a great relief to the bank's senior board members. The UK unit has been in dire straits in the past two years, haemorrhaging staff and losing a series of pension fund mandates. In 2004 alone, the businesses sold made losses of £77 million ($135 million).
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Money flowing into company and private pension plans in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to increase rapidly, creating new opportunities for fund managers.
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Smart investors seek out the SARs
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Euronext and Borsa Italiana take majority stake in MTS platform
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Investors in convertibles could benefit from synthetic convertible bonds being made more accessible
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A new breed of fund manager is shaking up Japanese markets
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Private-equity funds are uncovering new ways to invest in Africa
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Hedge funds
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Soul from Seoul wows the rest of Asia
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Prime minister faces growing discontent in coalition
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In the past few years, GMAC's mortgage-related businesses have become increasingly stymied by the ill-favoured rating environment of their immediate parent and GM. It was time to find a way out.
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We have the tools to develop much more coherent and flexible financial markets. But it will only happen if a spirit of openness is maintained, says Philippe Buhannic.
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Copenhagen is costly, but to great effect. Spend a bit, drink a bit and you'll end up enjoying a tradition of companionship, cosiness and conviviality. But Danes aren't inward-looking. They've stuck with their national currency, though many still favour regional integration.
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Credit card bad loans to rise but business still highly profitable
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The UK Debt Management Office has put a brave face on the disappointing response to its issue of 50-year gilts in mid-July. The DMO, in its second sale of these ultra-long bonds, sold £2.25 billion worth; but the sale drew bids of just 1.23 times the amount on offer, the smallest cover for any conventional gilt auction since the creation of the DMO in 1998. The DMO reintroduced the 50-year gilt in May after a break of more than 40 years. The result was particularly surprising in the light of the supposedly enormous gap between the supply of long-dated assets and the demand for them. Changes to pension fund regulation in Europe – Spain is the latest in a growing line of reformers – as well as increased pensioner longevity are forcing trustees to look hard at their asset/liability matching. In addition, there is a growing belief that the last 30 to 40 years, in which inflation has been high by historical standards and equities have been the logical asset in which to invest, have been some kind of blip.
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CSN becomes latest Brazilian borrower to issue new product
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Rank's termination of its ADR programme and a survey on US public company costs highlight impact of legislation
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Whatever else might be said of him, Domingo Cavallo is a brave man. Argentina's former economy minister, widely blamed for the country's meltdown following its devaluation and debt default, is planning a return to the limelight. He has decided to run in Argentina's legislative elections due in October. The 59-year-old is campaigning to win a seat as deputy in the lower house of congress in Buenos Aires for the centre-right Action for the Republic Party.
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BNP Paribas seen as probable buyer
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John Costas speaks to Euromoney about the achievements of UBS's investment bank during his tenure as chief executive and the legacy he leaves to his successor.
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There were red faces all around at Taiwan broker Fubon Securities after it was forced to admit a mind-numbingly banal trading blunder that caused massive confusion in the stock market and left the firm nursing a loss of almost US$15 million.
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Threats to the Arroyo regime in the Philippines raise worries about the quality of likely successors.
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UBS has dispelled the notion that investment bank CEO successions must be messy, vindictive battles. When John Costas handed over in June to Huw Jenkins, his global head of equities, it was the culmination of almost a year of planning. It was a fitting end to a successful term for Costas, and Jenkins's appointment recognized UBS's success in equities. Euromoney speaks to both men about Costas's legacy and what Jenkins plans to do next.
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Euroclear wants to create a single, low-cost European securities market, but it also wants to expand the role of its bank. That leaves market participants feeling uneasy about where Euroclear fits into the brave new world of clearing and settlement. Some are concerned that time is running out to settle the debate.
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Biggest index reweighting since 2000 has caught some investors off guard