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Widespread speculation about the likely purchaser of Bank of America’s equity prime brokerage business has come to an end.

With almost 100 years of foreign exchange experience between them, the three executives running Tradex Capital Markets have plenty to say about the industry.

The restructuring of Cheyne’s SIV could provide a blueprint for other stricken vehicles; Blackrock in the frame to manage StanChart’s SIV.

Deutsche Bank

The Euromoney Awards for excellence define banking excellence in global categories and across 110 individual countries. Over the years these awards have set the standards for banking and capital market excellence amongst the top ranking financial institutions around the world. Awards are based on outstanding performance, quality service, innovation and momentum.

Merrill Lynch has launched an investable index that the bank’s researchers say gives investors cleaner and more efficient access to US equity market volatility than products linked to the present benchmark, the Chicago Board Option Exchange’s Vix (Volatility Index). The Merrill Lynch US Forward Equity Variance Rolling (FEVR) index is designed to measure the performance of a long S&P 500 volatility strategy and follows the launch last year of a similar index in Europe, based on the volatility of the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50.

JPMorgan

Voracious risk appetite propelled Goldman’s earnings in the good times and induced rivals to follow suit. Only when the crash came did they learn, too late, how good a risk manager Goldman is. By managing itself well and avoiding the worst hits, while rivals are clearing up their own mess, Goldman has enhanced its client franchises. It is open for business with customers and reminding them why they wanted to deal with the firm in the first place. How has Goldman achieved this? Peter Lee asks the firm’s senior management to answer the question.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) now claims to have the world’s biggest market capitalization among publicly listed banks, reaching just under $339 billion at the end of 2007. That amounts to annual growth of 35%, just one of a number of impressive indicators of the bank’s recent development: it also recorded a 65% increase in after-tax profits for the fiscal year and a 16% increase in return on average equity. Although many of China’s banks found increasing deposits a reasonably straightforward process, ICBC also impressed with its efforts to diversify income streams. It increased net fee and commission income by 110% (admittedly from a relatively small base), and sale of wealth management products by Rmb1.234 trillion ($178.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 182%.

Decision to sponsor cycling team guarantees to generate huge media coverage.

From his grand office overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Jim Ovia, managing director and chief executive of Zenith Bank, can look down with pride at some of his and the bank’s achievements. While most banks in Nigeria claim to be the biggest or the best, Zenith, by just about every measure, whether it is asset quality or balance sheet strength, innovation, use of new technology or just brand recognition, emerges as the best in the country. Last year it picked up a BB– international credit rating from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – the highest possible, equal to the sovereign credit rating; was granted a full banking licence in the UK, the first Nigerian bank to achieve that in 25 years; and set up a proprietary data services provider to link all its branches in real time. The bank is setting up subsidiaries or representative offices in South Africa, Dubai and China, as well as branches across sub-Saharan Africa. What is behind the bank’s success? Some say it is the fact that Zenith has grown organically and not through merger and acquisition like other Nigerian banks. Much of the credit is attributable to the vision and drive of Ovia and his deputy managing director, Godwin Emefiele. Ovia obviously doesn’t spend much time enjoying the sea view.

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.