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Can Gulf financial centres’ high ambitions be fulfilled in a post-credit crunch world with falling oil prices?

With CDS prices at unprecedented levels, the crisis shows no sign of abating.

Whisper it quietly, but Sarkozy’s bail-out plan looks the most market-savvy.

A wave of corporate defaults will follow the onset of a vicious global recession as sure as night follows day. But this time, that night will see zombie companies stagger the earth, dragging their uncovenanted leverage multiples behind them. Louise Bowman explains.

The inclusion of the Pfandbrief in the German government’s banking guarantee marks a turning point – not just in the financial downturn but in the product’s entire history. Jethro Wookey reports.

The acquisition of the European and Asian arms of Lehman Brothers means that the Japanese firm is now the world’s largest independent investment bank. The deal shocked many who had expected a western buy-out. Lawrence White speaks to Takumi Shibata and Sadeq Sayeed, the architects of the deal.

Corporate FX losses are already running into billions. The problem, as the dollar’s rally continues, could be endemic.

Several key creditors have funded Cuba’s banking system and development in recent years. Cuba’s main source of credit is China. Chinese authorities have promised a $70 million loan for a ­telecommunications cable project. China is also understood to have provided a high proportion of the export finance that led to a record $1.8 billion-worth of Cuban exports in 2006, a figure that increased in 2007.

The economy has reached an inflection point. Change is coming that suggests the socialist republic will not only survive but, relatively speaking, could thrive, so long as investors are patient. Chloe Hayward reports on efforts to inject capitalism into the state-controlled economy.

It seemed like such a no-brainer. This time last year asset managers of every hue were falling over each other to establish debt opportunity funds – the obvious response to the looming liquidity crunch in the credit markets. Indeed, the number of firms setting up funds as early as 2005 showed how clearly they were seen as the next big money-spinner. Fast forward a year and, along with many other investment strategies across the capital markets, things have not quite panned out as planned. Credit opportunity funds that were poised to pile into the hung LBO pipeline last year were initially frustrated as many banks stubbornly refused to sell and secondary prices remained in the mid-90s. Several big sales in the second quarter of this year – such as Citi’s sale of $12 billion loans to Apollo Management, Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific Group and Deutsche Bank’s $5 billion deal with Apollo and Blackstone – were seen as a sign that the long-awaited deluge of distressed buying opportunities had arrived.

A tightly regulated and fast growing market looks attractive, but tightening solvency regulations and gummed-up credit markets mean smaller insurers are finding life tough. That may create a rare chance for brave foreigners to enter the market. But global uncertainty could be advantageous for better-capitalized home banks. John Rumsey reports.

They don’t get any luckier than Kenan Altunis, global head of sales at UniCredit.