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The debt poll of polls

Fund of hedge funds group Financial Risk Management (FRM) has launched a new business to provide seed capital to early-stage hedge fund managers. Group chairman Blaine Tomlinson cites the need for managers to reach critical mass through partner ventures as the reason for the creation of the new platform. The business, FRM Capital, will also provide investment opportunities for existing fund of hedge funds clients. Industry participants say that the number of seeding funds is increasing as entering managers find it harder to attract capital, and as firms such as FRM seek to diversify their business.

Board stupid

"Sudan is probably the richest country in the region. It has the best commodity in the world: water. It also has oil, minerals, cattle, fertile land and human resources. If it can resolve its problems, Sudan has the potential to be a perfect economy." Such is the view of Ahmed Abbas, CEO of Liquidity Management Centre, a Bahraini Islamic investment firm. And if the capital markets are anything to go by, says Abbas, the biggest country in Africa might already have begun its recovery.

Anyone hoping for clarity around banks’ write-downs is sure to be disappointed, but the industry must make a marked improvement.

Does Latin America really need a new multilateral lender? Do Latin countries need more funding, and might not Banco del Sur hinder local capital markets’ growth?

The continuation and expansion of the term auction facilities is evidence that they actually work. But as with any medication, there are side-effects.

Financial markets depend on confidence and trust. Trust is being broken.

UBS’s chairman is struggling to hold on but shareholders must resist temptation to remove him at the moment.

The prevention of re-runs of the Northern Rock catastrophe depends on something better than the duplication of an existing regulatory committee.

A long-term government guarantee of Northern Rock’s wholesale funding might prompt other mortgage lenders to demand similar treatment even if they are not in financial difficulty.

With traditional debt markets still in disarray, it’s theoretically a good time for sukuks to foster issuance outside the Middle East and Asia.