Was there an ulterior motive for CMC Group’s decision to drop the deal4free brand?

Hurricanes don’t just destroy cities: they can also destroy sovereign finances. Hurricane Ivan, for instance, wiped out so much of Grenada’s infrastructure in September 2004 that by the end of the year the country was in default on its debt. Things were not helped when Hurricane Emily struck Grenada in July.

State-owned Vneshtorgbank is set to continue its rapid expansion via a share swap to acquire several foreign banks owned by the Russian central bank, including London-based Moscow Narodny Bank and Paris-based Eurobank.

Banco Central de Chile president Vittorio Corbo is arguably Latin America’s most respected central banker. He tells Euromoney how he is keeping a lid on the region’s biggest economic danger – inflation. Sudip Roy reports from Santiago.

BNP Paribas has filled its global head of securitization post. Former Morgan Stanley securitization syndicate and trading head Tim Drayson joined last month. Drayson left Stanley after 10 years in March and joins at a time when BNPP has advertised its intention to grow its securitization business.

Technology companies have to swallow harsh market truths – and some pride – and give up independence.

In another sign of the rapid modernization of China’s capital markets, the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, became the first foreign institutions to issue renminbi-denominated bonds, known as panda issues.

Just days after Refco announced what it termed “significant volume increases on its professional and institutional FX trading platform, FX ProTrader”, activity on the platform ground to a complete halt.

Germany is the new battleground for French banks, it seems, with BNP Paribas and Société Générale both making hires. BNPP has hired Menko Jaekel from Citigroup’s Frankfurt office for its DCM financial institutions group’s coverage of Austria and Germany. He reports to Razi Amin and Anthony Fane, co-heads of DCM FIG Europe. The move is the latest in a series of appointments that the bank has made in an effort to grow its covered bond business. In structured products and derivatives it appointed Ralph Heinig and Marc Steiner for the same region.

The competitive spirit in investment bankers at CSFB and Morgan Stanley is alive and well. But instead of the usual battle to win business from clients or trading head to head, they clashed on a non-financial field.

Denmark’s Saxo Bank has announced that it will open a London office in the “near future”. Lars Seier Christensen, Saxo’s chief executive, says the focus of the new office will initially be purely institutional.

1,900 – estimated number of hedge fund managers that need to register with the SEC by February as part of the US regulator’s new rules for the industry.

Sovereign has shown it retains access to the capital markets despite political and economic woes.

Quote from Brian Shapiro, president of management and technology consulting firm Carbon360, in regards to the impending registration deadline imposed by the SEC.

Taiwan recognized the failings in its existing pension systems early. A new scheme was launched in July. It is already accumulating funds rapidly and the effects on Taiwan’s domestic capital markets are likely to be dramatic. There will also be numerous opportunities for global asset managers. Chris Leahy reports.

India’s private-equity business is growing fast again. But unlike the late-1990s boom of flows to technology companies, money is heading into a broad range of sectors, reflecting the strong performance of the economy. Kautilya Shastri reports.

Kazakhstan – Kazakhmys, the world’s tenth-largest copper producer, should raise as much as $1.4 billion when it floats between 26% and 30% of its stock in London later this year. The company boasts an impressive ebitda margin of 60% and a net margin of 34%. It mines about 90% of Kazakhstan’s copper output. Copper prices have gone through the roof in the past 12 months and demand for the shares reflects this. The share price range had been set at $8.10 to $9.60. Credit Suisse First Boston and JPMorgan Cazenove are joint global coordinators and bookrunners.

Harvard University’s endowment fund has appointed as its head emerging-market legend and one-time candidate as IMF head Mohamed El-Erian. Formerly, El-Erian was running $30 billion in funds at bond investment manager Pimco. He takes over from Jack Meyer who, following complaints about his large compensation package decided to leave with some of his team to run a hedge fund. Meyer is likely to make a success of the new venture given that he has built up Harvard’s fund from $4.7 billion in 1990 to its present $25.9 billion.

China’s inefficient economy is under threat because its capital costs are set to rise, but it is as likely to falter because US consumerism hits the wall. And there are signs that American profligacy cannot be sustained much longer

But can their value surpass the underlying market?

In 2005, while issuers, underwriters, rating agencies and regulators have still been grappling with the question of covered bond identity, investor concerns have been more basic – spreads, yields, and the arrival of new investors. Mark Brown reports.

The hedge fund industry has matured at a faster pace than anyone could have anticipated. Sure, there are still problems, but the old habit of tarring all hedge funds with the old brush of suspicion must surely be left in the past.

During the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington at the end of September, some of the leading names in global finance gathered at the Hay Adams Hotel to witness the presentation of Euromoney’s minister of finance and central bank governor of the year awards.

Concerns about hedge fund positions in the face of Refco’s collapse have been overstated. The real consequence should be that investors are more wary of what they buy into.

Global M&A volumes are heading back up to levels not seen since 2000. This should give investors pause for thought: 2000 was, after all, a year of excess. Although the market is very different today, some things never change. Peter Koh reports.

San Francisco likes to think of itself as the most liberal US city. Every May, for example, the famous Bay to Breakers race takes place.

“I have 18 proposals from different banks all offering the same type of deal. When you pile them one on top of the other they stand over a metre high. I am suffering from lead harassment”

Dismissing the official charged with setting up a debt agency sends the wrong signals at home and abroad.

“You ask a hedge fund manager how quickly can they do a deal. And they reply: ‘Is tomorrow quick enough?’”

Recent popular new issues rapidly faced heavy trading and price falls. With the tendency of speculative money to disappear as quickly as it arrives, it remains to be seen whether it will continue to plague IPOs later in the year.