May 2012
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LATEST ARTICLES
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As JPMorgan's losses in credit derivatives are revealed, Euromoney columnist Jon Macaskill reveals just how the CIO division worked and the positions it took - and warns that other houses on Wall Street could try to make their rivals' losses worse.
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Five years ago, corporates began to expand, setting up manufacturing facilities and offices at home and around the world. As those companies buy fixed assets and trading companies across multiple markets, they need a way of linking that local entity to their group head offices back home in each of these territories.
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The firm has moved up Euromoney’s FX rankings as it broadens its client base.
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The investment case for Africa has never been more compelling. But while global investment banks are keen to invest, the opportunities for them to put boots on the ground are limited.
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There was a surprise in Shanghai last month and it had nothing to do with the terrible 1986 film starring Madonna and thuggish social activist Sean Penn. All eyes were on Hong Kong, which staged its first large IPO in what seemed like ages – we think the last one was when the aforementioned material girl was an actual girl and not like your grandmother in a leotard. But the Hong Kong debut flopped, whereas in Shanghai the surprise in question was the stock market launch of the People’s Daily website, which soared 78% on its first day. The website belongs to the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.
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Euromoney never stops working. So even when one of our correspondents was on holiday in Spain during April, he was deeply disturbed by direct evidence of the property crisis engulfing the country.
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The top five FX banks have increased their share of total market volume to 55%, and the top 10 banks now account for 78.5%. Citi has made the biggest strides in the top five, rising two places to second and closing in on Deutsche Bank’s long-established top spot.
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Rich Ricci, the co-head of Barclays’ banking and markets division (until recently known as Barclays Capital), made history in April. No, not for the size of his bonus – but for the success of the racehorses that he owns.
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The UK tax authorities are continuing their clampdown on tax avoidance, and once again the name of Barclays surfaces at the centre of investigations into a highly complex scheme.
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"If you call yourself a relative return fund, you need to actually sell things to make that return. Lots of asset managers seem to have forgotten that"
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"The entire lending industry was so inefficient, and the way to make it efficient was to cut out the bank"
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Citi remains the FX bank with the most wind in its sails and is now breathing down the neck of top-placed Deutsche Bank.
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Every investment bank has spent huge investment dollars on FX since 2008. Now a shake out seems to be occurring. Banks with scale and budget are winning more share, but there are decent returns to be had for institutions of all sizes if they are focused.
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Russia’s state-owned bank is forging ahead with market-share gains in Kazakhstan as local competitors fail to make a comeback from the financial crisis. And Sberbank’s success seems to presage a broader Russian resurgence that might counter Chinese influence.
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Saudi Arabia’s new economy minister, the former central bank governor Mohammed Al Jasser, says rapid change is under way in his country. But is the reformist energy sparked by the Arab Spring already flagging?
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With primary Asian equity markets quiescent so far this year, ECM bankers are hopeful that the well-supported IPO expected from Haitong Securities will spark off an issuance revival.
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With lending booming again, Russia’s banks need recapitalizing. Ironically, partial privatization of state-owned financial institutions may be crowding out much-needed stock offerings by private-sector lenders and smaller banks.
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According to one foreign survey, Bulgaria has the most business-friendly environment on the continent. However, it is burdened by stagnant capital markets and a reliance on the debilitated economies of western Europe.
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As banks returned to the primary bond markets and their stocks rallied through the first quarter of 2012. Michel Barnier, European commissioner for internal markets and services, felt sufficiently confident to move ahead with the design of bail-in procedures for writing down bank debt in the event of imminent failure.
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It is good to see the Bull charging back. In late April, Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced that it had hired Alex Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS as its new president of Europe and the emerging markets ex Asia. For those of you who have short memories, UBS hired one of Merrill’s top bankers, Andrea Orcel, merely a month ago to be co-head of the investment bank. Since then, Orcel has persuaded several other senior Merrill bankers to join him at UBS: Javier Oficialdegui, Javier Martinez-Piqueras and Emilio Greco.
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Bank becomes Brazil’s 16th-largest company; Problems persist with smaller deals
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Of course, there is another big IPO coming to a screen near you shortly. I am talking about the phenomenal Facebook deal, which is veiled under a hefty shroud of secrecy but which seems to be scheduled for the launch pad in mid-May. I wonder if that will mark the peak of the equity market this year? Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter for this fiercely contended deal.
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Bank ‘taking long-term view’; Asia seen as key driver of profits
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BTG Pactual’s IPO offered lessons to other Brazilian issuers about pricing discipline, and to other partnership banks about ownership structures.
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Deal part of liability management exercise; Pemex pioneers LatAm Aussie dollar market
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Ennahda government hit by new protests; Qatar lends $500 million via bond issuance
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HSBC launch demonstrates UK appeal; Deal criticized as PR exercise
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Some are calling him ‘bloated Bob’. Others prefer the prefix ‘bountiful’. I would suggest the adjectives ‘baffling’ and ‘burnished’.