Institutional investors adopt the 130/30 rule.

Russell Investment Group has launched a range of global indices that apply the same criteria to all companies regardless of size and the country in which they are listed.

Ivan Ritossa, Barclays Capital’s global head of FX, has assumed responsibility for the bank’s rates business in Asia. His new remit includes fixed income, and commodity and equity-linked products, run out of the bank’s Singapore office. A Barclays spokesperson said: "Asia contains the fastest-growing economies in the world. Developing and building our business across this diverse region is fundamental to the global growth plans of the firm. Since joining the firm in 2002, Ivan has transformed the foreign exchange business into a world-class performer."

Gulf institutions maintain their dominance of Euromoney’s rankings as growth continues for third successive year. Morris Helal reports.

Demand for Islamic finance products is high. At last supply is starting to meet investors’ needs. The challenge for the industry is to ensure that the market’s infrastructure develops sufficiently quickly so that more companies and entities continue to embrace Shariah-compliant techniques. And on the following pages Euromoney profiles the winners of the latest ­Islamic finance awards.

Which are the financings that defined the capital markets in 2006? This year, Euromoney recognizes half a dozen deals that will for ever be associated with the previous 12 months.

Hedge fund managers are paying closer attention to returns on their cash balances, according to a survey of 800 managers by Horizon Cash Management.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Leading Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has added yet another banker to its already impressive staff, which has extensive investment banking experience in emerging European capital markets.

Claire Bright, former head of asset and liability management of HBOS Treasury Services, has withdrawn her £11 million ($21.8 million) claim of sex discrimination and wrongful dismissal against the UK bank.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Richard Downer, who left Bear Stearns last June having been responsible for its troubled Rooftop Mortgages subsidiary, has joined Bank of America in London. The hire of Downer, together with former Bear colleague Neil Warman, would suggest that BoA might be the latest bank planning a move into the non-conforming mortgage space. Bear Stearns opted to bring in US talent to run the London-based residential mortgage business, which is now headed by Fred Khedouri. In another London-based move, Colin Evans has transferred to the specialty finance group at JPMorgan with a remit to boost consumer finance and non-bank financial business. He was previously head of FIG securitized products at the bank.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Albania has something of an image problem abroad. What scant coverage the country has received in the international press in the past has almost universally been negative in tone, focusing on drugs-trafficking, Mafia shootings, banking scandals and political mismanagement. It’s hardly the ideal news recipe if you’re looking to attract much-needed investment to a country often dubbed the poor man of Europe.

Two surveys of hedge fund managers’ portfolio valuation policies have revealed a lack of standardization, highlighting a need for stricter valuation procedures, particularly when dealing with hard-to-value assets.

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The imposition of policies to counter terrorist financing activities means that controversial decisions are inevitable. Even so, the US Treasury’s hard-line stance towards Iran’s financial institutions, two of which it publicly claims are funding the country’s nuclear weapons programme and Middle East terrorist organizations, raises important questions – not least whether its actions are interfering with international commerce.

Much of the singsong about the advantages to Euronext of the merger with the NYSE sounds flat.

The region’s equity markets are beginning to outshine debt and M&A.

The growing number of investors wanting to short the commercial property market is good news for property derivatives.

The bank has changed. Now Green and Geoghegan’s challenge is to manage investors’ different expectations.

Regulatory arbitrage will to take a new form once bankers can get their heads around Basle II.

A revival of domestic investor interest in Japan’s equity and real estate markets is inevitable.

Currenex’s sale may force a re-rating of FX platforms and their owners.

Recent research belies the image of hedge fund activists as short-termists that destroy corporate value rather than create it.

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Mergers and acquisitions are the hot topic in Tokyo as corporate Japan shifts into investment mode. And although Japan’s M&A market is flawed, structural changes are slowly under way and global bulge-bracket firms will be the ­ultimate winners. Chris Leahy reports.

Hedge fund Cabezon Capital focuses on the currency and liquidity strategies of emerging market governments pursuing export-led growth. Helen Avery speaks to Michael Dooley, the fund’s co-founder and head of research.

Activist shareholders have a bad name. Helen Avery brought together a group of hedge funds to uncover the positive role that such investors can play.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com