Inflation is set to feed into the US economy, with destructive effects. But the beginning of the process won’t be the consumer slowdown that so many expect.

Merrill Lynch has hired Michael Pringle as managing director and head of flow derivatives and equity risk for the EMEA region. Pringle joins from Credit Suisse where he spent the past four years in a number of senior roles in derivatives trading. Before joining Credit Suisse, Pringle was a derivatives trader at Morgan Stanley for seven years.

An oft-cited grievance of many a sell-side equity research analyst is that boring numerical analysis of mundane data and events, known as maintenance research in the trade, stifles creativity.

Ukraine is likely to issue a new Eurobond in October, after a functioning government was finally installed in August.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has hired Manfred Schepers to be its new vice-president for finance. Schepers, who for the past two years has headed the European arm of the Bond Market Association, will take up the new role, which is similar to that held by a CFO in a commercial bank. He will look at the asset portfolio, treasury, strategy and budget at the supranational. “From my time at UBS, I’ve a lot of interest in development finance and emerging markets,” Schepers told Euromoney. Schepers worked at UBS for a little under 20 years and replaces Steven Kaempfer, who held the position for eight years before leaving the bank in June.

China’s domestic capital markets are beginning to open up to foreign banks. Although there are a multitude of opportunities and the scale is unprecedented, striking a successful strategy is vital. Chris Leahy reports.

The US is buried under a mountain of debt, much of it owned by past or current enemies. The ageing, ill man of Europe gets older and sicker. New economies of the Middle East, Latin America, emerging Europe and Asia are using windfalls to build for the future, and exert their influence across the globe. This is the new financial order. Markets will never be the same again.

Christopher Egerton-Warburton is the new head of origination in the sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) business at Goldman Sachs. “Edge” has been at Goldman Sachs for 13 years and has been associated with landmark trades such as the UK and German dollar deals. Of late he has focused on more strategic issues such as the creation of the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm).

The prospect of greater M&A and capital markets activity by Indian companies means that no bank can afford to ignore the sub-continent. Some are attacking the market through joint ventures and alliances with locals; others are going it alone. But which ones will succeed, and how will independent local players stand up to the competition? Sudip Roy reports from Mumbai.

Another critical event is now casting its shadow over the global investment banking industry.

Move over Thailand. Singapore’s government has decided that, at least for the duration of September’s IMF/World Bank meetings, it will usurp its regional neighbour’s soubriquet, “the land of smiles”. In a speech in June, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong exhorted Singapore’s citizens to greet its estimated 16,000 visitors with “4 million smiles”, a rough approximation to the city-state’s population, stressing the importance of showing the “human face and touch of Singaporeans”.

The Egyptian government is about to part with one of its hottest assets. Bank of Alexandria, the country’s third-largest bank, with a balance sheet of $6.5 billion, will find itself in the hands of a strategic investor. And the government will find itself a good few Egyptian pounds richer.

Rato can take the lead in combating the “financial balance of terror”.

With sentiment and finances in good shape, it’s time for emerging market sovereigns to rethink their debt profiles.

The point of hedge funds is to produce returns even in a down market. Self-styled long/short funds must not allow themselves to become long-only.

The spending of the oil wealth will suck in imports, provide a medium-term economic boom and might swiftly and radically realign the global order of which countries boast what combination of real wealth, jobs and durable economic activity.

Will US issuers and investment banks finally learn to love covered bonds?

It’s not just Sarbanes-Oxley; changing global capital flows also threaten the US’s pre-eminent status as a financial centre.

Emerging market CFOs need to grasp the benefits of a proper hedging strategy.

Investors can’t get enough of real estate. But property developers should get ready for the wall of money to shift to emerging markets.

A new product, and a new law, could herald the beginning of institutional investment in global markets.

By John Ferry

Venezuela’s president has threatened to nationalize telecom company CanTV in a row over workers’ pensions.

The world’s biggest EM portfolio fund manager is scaling back its tactical allocation to the asset class.

As HSBC buys Banistmo for $1.8bln, analysts predict that the region is ripe for consolidation.

South Africa’s banks have to work harder for market share.

Washington Mutual’s treasury officials reveal the rationale behind the first covered bond from a US issuer.

More companies set to float on Nairobi stock exchange before the end of the year.

China has so far allowed just two foreign investment banks to strike deals to manage domestic securities firms. The deals are very different in structure, but both focus on the key issue of control and both are mired in controversy. Chris Leahy reports.

A Euromoney survey shows a disconnect between funds and prime brokers.