In Europe and Asia, UBS is the closest challenger to the top two prime brokerage players but Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are arguably now the best placed to grow. Neil Wilson reports.

As the structured finance market struggles to reinvent itself, the orgy of recrimination among constituents is intensifying.

After suffering from several departures to local rivals, especially VTB, Deutsche Bank has sought to bolster its Moscow office with new hires. Alex Bronin is appointed head of emerging markets structuring for Russia/CIS, Valeri Pouchni, head of rates and FX trading, Andrey Yumatov, head of corporate derivative sales, Alex Danylenko, head of local-currency bond trading, and Diana Nikolova as a senior structurer focusing on Russian structured credit.

The belief that Libor is an actual rate at which banks lend substantial money to one another is a façade that the credit crunch has torn down with a vengeance.

Malaysia’s CIMB has finally closed a deal in Thailand after it was outbid by ICBC on a previous attempt to buy ACL Bank. CIMB will now acquire 42% of BankThai, and, pending regulatory approval, will then scoop up the bank’s remaining equity, paying around Bt2.10 per share for stock last seen trading at Bt1.32. BankThai is in desperate need of funding after suffering heavy losses on overseas CDO investments. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has put CIMB and its holding company BCHB on Creditwatch with negative implications, saying it needs to discuss fundng and integration plans with the group before reversing that move.

7 the average percentage return of US IPOs one month after listing so far this year.

Drake Management, the $11 billion global macro fund, has said it will be shutting its two remaining funds after poor performance. Its largest fund dropped 24% last year. Anthony Faillace, Drake’s CIO, has built up a solid reputation, however, after the fund returned more than 40% in 2006. The firm is expected to create some successor funds for investors that want to stay with it.

Jack Jeffery, former chief executive of EBS, has joined option pricing specialist SuperDerivatives as chief operations officer. Jeffery will lead SuperDerivatives’ management team and oversee the execution of its business strategy. He will be based in London. The company has also employed Anton Aucamp, who worked with Jeffery at EBS, as its head of marketing.

On June 11, Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, agreed to remove a tax of 1.5% on all financial transactions, admitting that the government did not need this revenue and that it was helping to push up inflation. He also introduced new exchange rate controls that will reduce the paperwork for capital goods imports. But this applies only to companies seeking $50,000 or less.

Citi has promoted Tom King to a new position of head of EMEA banking. His role encompasses investment banking and the corporate and commercial bank. He will also oversee the newly created capital markets origination group for the region.

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.

Andre Esteves, who was chairman and chief executive of Latin America at UBS Pactual, has left the firm to set up a fund. Rodrigo Xavier will replace him and will report to Jerker Johansson, chairman and chief executive of UBS Investment Bank. In addition, Juerg Haller has been named chairman and chief executive of UBS Latin America, spanning all business groups.

Capital markets and financial services have advanced dramatically in the past few years across Africa. In this debate, Nigerian bankers and informed foreign peers discuss the achievements and the upcoming challenges.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has given Credit Suisse the go-ahead to launch a joint venture with local firm Founder Securities. The Swiss bank takes a 33% share in the new entity, which will be able to sponsor and underwrite A shares, foreign investment shares and government and corporate bonds. The firm will not be able to offer secondary market services such as research and broking, however: under new regulations announced in 2007 Sino-foreign joint ventures must show a track record of five years’ unblemished service before being able to expand their activities.

The biggest retailers will regret having been blind to opportunities in emerging Europe.

Brazilian mining company Vale announced on June 12 that it had requested permission to issue $14 billion in shares to raise cash for acquisitions and growth. Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, has filed with the Brazilian securities and exchange commission to sell an unspecified number of common and preferred class-A shares in Brazil and abroad, as well as US traded ADRs. In a statement the company said the money would help fund a $59 billion investment plan.

Ceiba Investments, a closed-end fund that invests solely in Cuban assets, is set to list its shares on London junior market AIM this month.

OGX, the Brazilian mining company owned by billionaire Eike Batista, and the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, the Mexican stock exchange, both came to market last month with landmark IPOs. They were important deals in a number of respects, including getting Latin primary market issuance going again this year. At least as significant was the emergence of China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, as an investor in Latin American IPOs.

Underlying the headlines are distortions in the market that can be overcome by liberalization.

We could be living through the last days of the independent investment banks.

Barings, Castlepoint, AIG, Eclectica, to name but a few, have all set up agriculture funds in the past 12 months to cash in on expected commodity price increases. And if returns to date are anything to go by, more will be joining them.

As one door closes, another opens. Odey Asset Management closed its $40 million Japan hedge fund in June after it fell more than $1 billion in 18 months. The same month, though, the manager announced that it would be creating a fund of hedge funds subsidiary in order to play out some of its investment theme convictions.

Institutional investment in commodity markets is boon not bane.

Man Group has bought a 25% stake in alternative investment manager Nephila Capital. The Bermuda-based manager specializes in insurance-based instruments such as catastrophe bonds, weather derivatives and insurance-linked securities.

The strong run in emerging market equities and the relative outperformance of non-US developed market stocks appears to have ended as a weak US housing market weighs down on consumers and credit markets and high commodity prices stoke inflation worldwide.

The transatlantic exchange group this June announced a strategic partnership with the State of Qatar to invest $250 million in a 25% stake in the Doha Securities Market. The DSM will adopt NYSE Euronext technology and gain an international partner while NYSE Euronext will gain a foothold in the fast expanding Middle East.

The announcement of the creation of a central counterparty for over-the-counter credit default swap trades has been described as one of the biggest developments in the history of the market.

As part of the decision-making process for the Awards for Excellence, Euromoney journalists conduct numerous interviews with senior bankers who aim to convince us why they should win.

The firm appears to have timed the launch of its upgraded option system to perfection.