A brave new world for commodities hedging

Oil prices are recovering, but for producers, consumers and even investors, some of their most difficult decisions are just beginning. Danielle Myles reports.

A cautionary tale

As appetite for equity slowly returns to the world's markets, private banking clients remain shy of structured products. And if they are to be tempted back to this once-booming sector, there must be a shift towards more transparent and less complex products. Writer Silvia Pavoni

Still bursting with ideas

Product innovation may have stalled under the threat of tougher regulations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but the major players still have plenty of good ideas to offer, writes Suzanne Miller.

Exotix boldly tackles the Yemeni frontiers

So-called ‘frontier markets’ hold no fears for some investors. Edward Russell-Walling reports on how broker-cum-investment bank Exotix went digging for profits in the zinc mines of Yemen.

Plenty of room for derivativesin project finance space

Large numbers of energy and infrastructure projects across the globe have been funded through the use of project finance, opening up established and emerging economies to new forms of economic growth. Banks compete fiercely to fund these deals, but face a host of complex risks. Natasha de Terán explores how they manage them.

Coming of age

The development of Islamic hedge funds and other complex instruments, as well as the provision of mortgages for a market hungry for property, shows how far the Islamic finance industry has come and where it is heading, write Mark Ford and Jon Marks.