Never in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s history has central and eastern Europe needed its support so much. President Thomas Mirow explains its plans to head off the threat of depression to Sudip Roy.

How many mega-projects can a crippled market handle? Saudi state bodies such as the Public Investment Fund are doing more to help the financing of projects but it might not be enough. Dominic O’Neill reports from Riyadh.

In 2008, Russia’s property developers were hit by a brutal mix of fast-shrinking funding options and falling customer demand, sending equity valuations into a tailspin. Guy Norton reports from Moscow on the prospects for recovery.

Gulf International Bank is finalizing a reallocation of shares in the light of a $4.8 billion bailout by its shareholders.

Even before the global financial crisis fully hit home, Citi had recognized that its successful Asia-Pacific division could perform even better with a more centralized structure. Ajay Banga has put that in place, but the full impact of the changes might not be apparent for a while. Elliot Wilson reports.

The potential for huge profits may no longer be there but good opportunities can still be found. Louise Bowman reports.

Two months in and only $6.4 billion in Talf loans from the $200 billion programme have been taken up. The number of investors lined up to participate is increasing and Ben Bernanke could end up with his $1trillion dream of Talf issuance and a revival of US consumer lending. Issuers need to get on board. But will they?

Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves has bought back much more than he sold just three years ago. His BTG-Pactual combination makes him one of the key players in Latin America’s largest market, and leaves UBS nowhere. Esteves outlines his ambitions to Chloe Hayward.

Emerging markets hedge funds returned more than any other strategy in March, producing 4.63%, according to HFR, ending eight months of continuous losses. In 2008, average losses of emerging market hedge funds were nearly 37%, and investors withdrew $6.7 billion from them in the fourth quarter. Total hedge fund capital committed to emerging markets fell to less than $67 billion globally.

When it was known as the Honda Racing F1 Team, it couldn’t even win a raffle. However, now that it has been relaunched as Brawn GP – with the same drivers, same backroom staff and management – the team is setting the pace in Formula 1. Inevitably, this initial success has attracted a crowd of media-hungry players and reports have suggested that a high-profile company was going to step in as the team’s main sponsor.

The credit market has witnessed a number of unguaranteed deals from European banks. Increasingly, for well-capitalized financial institutions, there are investors willing to put money to work. Perhaps more important, the spread gap between where they can print government-guaranteed deals and issue paper backed purely by their own credit is no longer the yawning gulf it once was.

During 2008, Henderson Global Investors expanded into the advisory business and Ganesh Rajendra has been hired to drive this part of the business forward. Rajendra last worked at Deutsche Bank, where he was head of European ABS research.

Latest figures show that new hedge fund launches and the total assets raised were both hit by the economic downturn. Neil Wilson reports.

Dierk Reuter has quit his job as global head of FX algorithmic trading at Deutsche Bank, which he joined in November 2007 from Goldman Sachs. Sources say Reuter is poised to set up a niche boutique and that he will be joined in his new venture by Matt Wilhelm from Goldman Sachs and at least two algo experts from RBS.

Fubon Financial’s chief executive sees no hope at home without intensive consolidation.

The well-liked and respected George Athanasopoulos has decided to leave Barclays Capital, where he was global head of FX and emerging markets distribution. Sources say Athanasopoulos is working his notice before heading back to Greece; he is expected to stay in the financial industry, most likely working for a buy-side entity.

China’s economic stimulus package offers only a temporary respite from the country’s – and indeed the world’s – current woes, believes Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University and chairman of consultancy firm RGE Monitor. "We have to think about changing the system of global current account imbalances," he said on a panel discussion at the Boao forum in China, "because we cannot continue with the present system of having the US as the consumer of first and last resort, over-borrowing and over-leveraging, while surplus countries like China are spending less than their income."

Much pressure has been placed on many market participants’ back offices as a result of the rapid expansion in foreign exchange trading volumes over the past few years.

Private equity stepping in to the vacuum left by lending banks.

With the international debt market still inaccessible for most Colombian corporates, the local market provides a ray of hope.

In May the European Central Bank may announce whether it will employ unconventional monetary policy measures. Throughout March speculation built that the ECB would unveil a plan to buy sovereign and even private debt in the secondary market, especially after ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet failed to deny such rumours. As it was, in addition to disappointing the market with just a 25 basis point cut in the key ECB rate to 1.25% in April, Trichet stated that any decision to deploy new non-standard monetary policy tools would be deferred until May.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, strayed off-message to startling effect during the opening session of the Boao forum for Asia, a conference that aims to be a kind of Davos of the east. After Chinese premier Wen Jiabao opened with a measured discourse on the theme of strength and confidence, essentially reiterating his country’s policies of fiscal stimulus and infrastructure spending, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev continued the optimistic mood with his views on the plausibility and desirability of a single Asian currency. Then it was Zardari’s turn. "I had another speech prepared," he began, "but listening to Premier Jiabao speaking about hope... I just felt I would not being doing my duty if I did not bring up the issue of terrorism. Excuse me if I spoil your thought processes today..." Zardari’s brief but passionate speech focused solely on that issue, reminding audience members that he had set up a new forum – with China’s participation – on a recent trip to Japan, and urging them to join the fight. Vietnam’s prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, showed solidarity with his Chinese hosts by returning to a procession of platitudes and statistics on FDI and GDP, but Zardari’s plea had at least got the audience talking.

Richard Leighton has now assumed responsibility for fixed income Europe at Standard Chartered, as well as continuing to run FX globally. "Last year, our business in Europe grew an impressive 143%. To ensure our continued ability to build on our success and take our business to the next level, we will be strengthening our organization by aligning our structure with that in place in Americas, MENA and Africa and appointing Richard Leighton as head of trading for fixed income for Europe," says an internal memo, quashing talk that Leighton is going to retire.

Trade body representations at the G20 Summit helped reduce the pressure for heavy-handed regulation of hedge funds. Neil Wilson reports.

BBVA: Staying ahead?

Asset manager BlackRock is absorbing $1.5 billion credit manager R3 Capital Management. R3 was founded by former Lehman Brothers executive Rick Rieder. The beleaguered investment bank also sold about $5 billion in assets to R3 to manage last summer in return for a stake that it was later forced to sell under bankruptcy proceedings. In a letter to investors, BlackRock senior management stressed the importance of having the right employees and resources in order to take advantage of increased opportunities in mortgages and structured assets that are trading at distressed levels. The firm also hired Akiva Dickstein from Merrill Lynch to head its mortgage portfolio team and Randy Robertson from Wachovia to co-head its securitized assets team.

Government interference in Brazil’s loan markets could lead to a new credit bubble, analysts warn. They fear cheap lending through state-owned Banco do Brasil could trigger the country’s own sub-prime crisis as other banks are forced to follow suit in order to remain competitive.

Cheyne Capital, a $6 billion European hedge fund, has hired Chris Goekjian as its new chief investment officer. Goekjian was head of global fixed income at Credit Suisse’s investment banking arm until 2001 when he left to set up fund of funds Altedge Capital. Altedge is to be integrated into Cheyne as part of the hire.

IFSL (International Financial Services London) says hedge fund assets could fall another 20% over 2009. A report by the non-profit group suggests that the 30% fall in 2008 would have been bigger had redemptions not been halted, particularly in the US. As those redemptions take place this year, assets will naturally decline further. Falls in assets are a result of both redemptions and investment losses, although IFSL reports that the former had greater impact on asset reduction in Europe, while in the US and Japan negative performance accounted for a bigger proportion.

Argentine officials are hopeful that a new currency swap deal with China will increase confidence in the peso and give the monetary authority greater power to defend the currency. On March 30 the two nations finalized a three-year currency swap worth $10 billion in order to facilitate mutual trade. So far China has limited these agreements to other Asian countries and this is the first such contract with any Latin currency. China contributes only 12% of Argentina’s total trade and so the real impact on the peso is likely to be small. However, this deal is an important political tool for the Argentinians. As elections loom, this move to maintain a stable currency is being well received.