Investment banks need to think carefully about which institutions they market their services to.

GSAM's boutique structure provides a potential model for other asset managers.

Brazil’s hedge fund industry is growing up. Two trends in particular stand out: foreign investors are seeking out local players through which to invest; and funds are evolving their strategies. Sudip Roy reports from São Paulo.

A spate of poor deals gets the investment bankers thinking. After a difficult October, in which initial public offerings met with a variety of fates, attention last month swung once again to the IPO process itself.

The massive shift of equity ownership needed in post-apartheid South Africa was always going to be a tough task. There will never be a template for deals, but a range of structuring and financing strategies are taking shape. Mark Brown reports from Johannesburg.

Algorithmic trading is transforming the secondary equities market and the brokerage business. Its growth seems inevitable, but what will the consequences be? Peter Koh reports.

Wiphold (Women Investment Portfolio Holdings) is one of the best-known Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies. From its headquarters in the exclusive northern Johannesburg suburb of Houghton (Nelson Mandela has a house just up the road), Wiphold has spent more than a decade helping South Africa’s women share in the country’s wealth.

Citigroup to take on $11 billion of risk in a single package.

Demands for compensation from two currency option brokers over the rogue trading scandal of January 2004, presents the market with another act in one of the most entertaining financial farces for years.

Banque du Liban et d’Outre Mer (Blom), Lebanon’s largest bank, with a paid-up capital of $128.3 million, is set to continue its regional expansion via its acquisition of Egyptian-Romanian bank, Misr Romanian Bank (MRB). Saad Azhari, general manager of Blom, said: “We expect the acquisition to be completed in the first two weeks of December [2005].” He expects Blom eventually to hold between 80% and 100% of MRB’s shares.