Citigroup and HSBC are neck and neck at the pinnacle of the cash management business, according to Euromoney's latest poll. Other firms trail far behind.

The clubby world of private banking is under threat. The UBS/Julius Baer deal shows how tough it will be for foreign banks to break into the market.

Chairman Raymond Baer describes Julius Baer's deal as truly transformational. A rising stock price suggests investors agree. Analysts identify the private bank, after the purchase of SBC Wealth Management, as the outstanding restructuring story in European banking. But this deal wasn't what the market expected.

Steps along the right path

Flotation of the UK fund manager still only one of several strategies being considered.

There's plenty of capital available to borrowers at attractive prices. But the headline numbers mask the complex dynamics at work.

After a failed foray into treasuries, Eurex US is now pinning its business development plans on currency futures.

Covered bond issuers are increasingly clear about the merits of solid execution, as Santander's and DexMa's latest deals show.

Hugo Chávez watch

New fixed-income products often attract pet names from market participants and commentators. Sadly, in the covered bond sector, the emergence of the UK product came and went without a catchy nickname being dreamt up.

BoB: the builders' friend

But liquidity – as yet limited to indices – has still to take off on single names.

Legislation is less than two years old but demand for alternative investments seems to be picking up at last.

A long-only fund run by traditional asset manager bears little resemblance to the long-only fund run by a hedge fund.

World Bank report calls for public-private partnerships to help the region match the pace of Asia's development.

After political shenanigans over alleged election fraud and fiscal worries about the suspension of the expanded VAT, the Philippines finally completed its debt funding requirement for the year with a 10-year $1 billion issue led by Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

At the IMF/WB meetings the great and the good of the international bond markets gathered to sell their wares to sovereign and supranational issuers. These potential clients remain some of the trophy issuers in debt capital markets, but they are not the kings of issuers they once were.

Stalled state sell-off is finally yielding impressive results.

Singapore government investment fund Temasek Holdings completed its long-trailed debut bond in September, raising $1.75 billion in 10-year money. The deal was increased from an original $1 billion amid strong demand for paper that was AAA-rated by Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

Hurricane Katrina has wreaked havoc in numerous ways but insurance companies appear well positioned to deal with the single largest event in the industry's history.

US buyout heavyweight opens in Asia

Dutch law MTN programme enables simpler structure.

People moves:

Who's buying whom?

Investment by foreign banks and investors in domestic Chinese banks is not over, but it seems that the recent frenzy of activity has abated, with most of the big deals now signed or at least agreed.

And the latest hedge fund manager is... ...former SEC chairman and corporate governance honcho Richard Breeden. Breeden headed the SEC from 1989 to 1993 and acted as corporate monitor of WorldCom and, more recently, KPMG. Unsurprisingly, given his experience, Breeden is launching an event-driven activist fund, profiting from companies that improve their corporate governance. The fund is being launched next January and Breeden hopes to raise between $500 million and $1 billion.

There has been a quantum leap in the economic literacy of the presidents in the region

Big bank players back electronic developments from a regional exchange.

A punctured US property bubble is not far down the line as inflationary pressures mount. When it comes, as treasury yields inevitably move up, the US economy will slow sharply

Competition in clearing and settlement doesn't work. The US shows that only a centralized clearing system can promote vigorous exchange competition.