The landscape of the Italian banking market has been completely redrawn over the past 12 months but consolidation remains work in progress.

Vallimarescu eyes opportunities in local markets.

Europe’s supranational and agency borrowers are becoming ever bigger issuers in the international capital markets even as their historical missions appear to have been met and the banking and financial market to have matured enough to finance at commercial rates most of the lending risks the agencies assume. The debate as to whether these subsidized institutions distort or complement the capital markets continues unabated, as private lenders submit to capital adequacy directives that do not extend to the agencies. Alex Chambers reports.

Markets used to move at the hint of change in the political landscape. These days, surprise election results seem to have little or no impact.

RAB's recent acquisition is second in two years.

The index begins trading under a cloud after a data management firm said it intended to sue FTSE/Xinhua Index for breach of contract.

As a consequence of Merrill Lynch’s revolving door policy in FX, Steve Kemp has resigned from the Foreign Exchange Committee. Kemp, just one of the many global FX heads Merrill has had over the past decade, left the bank this summer. Merrill has had few representatives on the Federal Exchange Bank of New York-sponsored committee, which is seen as a prestigious role in the market. Members have to be invited on and there is no guarantee that Merrill will get to sit at the top table again.

Hedge funds are the new financiers to the movie industry, attracted by the potential returns on diverse portfolios of movies especially from DVD sales. Hollywood has a bad reputation for parting star-struck investors from their cash. So the hedge fund managers will need to stay sharp and structure their investments carefully. Helen Avery reports.

"The bosses of Europe’s big three stock exchanges, the LSE, Deutsche Börse and Euronext, deserve to have their heads knocked together. They appear to have let their egos get in the way of getting together and forming a genuine European powerhouse."

The gap between the top two and their closest rivals continues to increase, according to results from our recent survey on international cash management.

Over the years ABN Amro has suffered a series of setbacks. But Niall Cameron argues that internal noise over organization charts has died down and the focus is on the business.

Leading US private equity firm Darby Overseas Investments is poised to begin pre-marketing on a global emerging markets fund that will have a heavy focus on Asian investments.

Likelihood of “ratings shopping” by borrowers/dealers increases.

FXMarketSpace has made four senior appointments as it gears up for its launch in 2007. Two of the appointments, Jane Forster and Dan Rosenberg, have been lured from rival EBS. Yigal Oren moves over from Reuters, FXMarketSpace’s 50% owner, and Debra Rabichow comes from futures commission merchant Goldenberg, Heymer & Co.

Higher underlying ratings will change the economics of the pub securitization market.

Do superheroes need financial advice, and if so, how do you go about giving it?

Italian regional authorities’ healthcare securitizations are under threat following the ratings of Lazio, Campania and Abruzzo being placed on negative watch by Standard & Poor’s. Threats to the accounting treatment given by Eurostat and also domestic authorities point to the regions’ healthcare securitizations being classed as debt. This gave S&P the jitters over how they would continue to fund their healthcare deficits.

Leasing is one of the hidden jewels of European banking. Its use by balance-sheet-constrained large private companies, credit-constrained small and medium-size enterprises and indebted public sector entities, including municipalities and local authorities, is growing rapidly. Europe is fast surpassing the US as the largest market for leases as more and more borrowers see the advantages compared with traditional loans. Peter Koh finds that banks are delighted and selling the product busily through their branch networks.

From a research note entitled The largest OTC exchange

“When you talk about leasing, everyone thinks you’re talking about cars. My mother-in-law thinks I sell cars for a living”

The postponement because of rain of the annual charity hedge fund polo tournament in Darien, Connecticut, meant a few key players were unable to make it, but it didn’t stop play altogether.

There has been no relief from the pressures that last year’s annual cash management poll detected: globalization, declining margins and intensified competition. Smaller banks face a choice between expanding to compete or forming difficult-to-implement partnerships. Some might soon begin to question whether all the effort is worthwhile. Lawrence White reports.

Qatari bank aims to become world’s largest Islamic player after IPO.

IMF: Singapore welcomes the right sort of people

Although benchmarking has a part to play in some areas, there is no single approach to best execution that suits all markets.

The possibility that the long end of the US yield curve might continue to invert has supported long-end issuance from international sovereign and supranational issuers.

Eurozone countries are continuing to boost productivity vis-à-vis that in the US; consequently European equities are outperforming American ones.

Hope Pascucci has resigned as joint global head of global capital markets at Deutsche Bank after six months in the role, to spend more time with her family. She has moved to Boston with her children and husband, Mike Pascucci, who retired from Merrill Lynch last year where he was head of credit trading. She was previously global head of debt capital markets and before that European head of DCM and global head of syndicate. Having joined Deutsche in 2000 and spearheaded the bank’s rise up the debt league tables, Pascucci is one of the best-known figures in the euro market. Thomas Gahan is the new sole head of GCM. He reports to Anshu Jain and Michael Cohrs, joint heads of the investment bank. Pascucci’s effective replacement is Ivor Dunbar, the new head of global capital markets, Europe and Asia, and he will run regionally debt, equity origination and syndication. He also continues to run global markets Europe. Pascucci’s former co-head, Richard Byrne, will now be head of GCM Americas.

While the current stage in the leverage cycle benefits corporate borrowers, concern has been raised about the protection that bondholders receive against declining ratings and event risk. Does good corporate governance have anything to offer this set of stakeholders, and should it have? Florian Neuhof reports.

Further regulation on delivery needed, says consultant.