No sooner had the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade announced their merger than some investment banks were discussing a new derivatives trading platform as a rival. Behind the great consolidation process among the world’s stock and derivatives exchanges lies the question: what is an exchange?
There is a strong resurgence of EU banks investing in Turkey. At a time when clashes of religions and secular systems are a concern worldwide, Turkey is an important example of what can be achieved.
The Hong Kong government is taking active steps to improve co-ordination of the development of its financial infrastructure with that of mainland China, writes Sir David Li.
EASDAQ, the European exchange that disappeared in the internet bust, will be resurrected in April 2007 under the name Equiduct, writes Chris Skinner. It will offer a pan-European pre- and post-trade reporting service, alongside best execution, and aims to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
Ernst & Young finds a wide range of outcomes from the impact of IFRS on Europe’s big banks, and Aite Group reports on the rise of online bill payments and the new opportunties it presents.
The Banker’s first Top 100 Brands provides an analysis of the value of branding to financial institutions, an asset that many banks fail to leverage. Stephen Timewell examines the results.
Mexico’s chief banker is not alone in criticising foreign banks’ inroads and influence on nascent markets. But do they really do more harm than good? Karina Robinson weighs up the arguments.
The CEO of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, Asia-Pacific, tells Geraldine Lambe how the firm’s strategy is enabling it to thrive across the board in the Asia-Pacific region, where even its once-lagging prime brokerage business is now up to speed.
Wolfgang Richter: ‘private equity firms could make banks operate a lot more effectively’
Private equity investors entering the world of Germany’s public sector banks could provide a shot in the arm for the country’s traditional three-pillar banking system. Joanne Hart reports.
Opening up Kazakhstan: Igor Ukrasin (seated) with (left to right) Nick Koemtzopoulos, Natasha Rebrova and Ben Canning
The sale of 40% of Kazakhstan state oil exploration and production company KazMunaiGas in a two-part offering was a roaring success, despite oil prices falling as the deal was going down. The Credit Suisse team responsible for “driving the execution” talk to Edward Russell-Walling.
David Rooke: found the bond market was penalising Acergy so advocated a change
Acergy is in sparkling form. After rationalising its business, renaming itself and emerging from crisis it has been listed on Nasdaq. Edward Russell-Walling reports on how it is managing its debt with convertibles.
It is a brave bank that both has a 10-year strategy and decides to publish it. But Dexia, under its new CEO, 41-year-old lawyer Axel Miller, has done just that.
No-one has ever explained precisely what kind of building material a Chinese Wall is constructed from. But ideally they should be screens on rollers that can be moved around the trading floor to cut off the latest flow of insider deals.
With regulation it is a question of turning problems into opportunities.
This month, we report in the news section that a new exchange named Equiduct will respond to the much discussed Markets in Financial Instruments Directive by creating pan-European trading.
Jonathan Laredo, co-founder and principal of Solent Capital Partners
The growing convergence of financial markets and the expanding lexicon of securitisation and derivatives-based techniques has led to a plethora of new products, among which are collateralised fund obligations. Natasha de Terán explores the developments and finds mixed opinions about their attractiveness.
Thomas Balgheim: small and medium-sized businesses require global connections
Increasing corporate access to Swift was a key theme at Sibos 2006, where a new model for connectivity was announced, but it was clear that challenges remain. Dan Barnes reports.
Javier Hernani: ‘win-win situation’ for the stock exchange and Spanish companies
At 150 years old, Spain’s stock exchange holding company, BME, is powering ahead to the top rankings of the world’s bourses while speculation continues over its future as an independent exchange. Jules Stewart reports.
Romania is due to join the EU in three months’ time, and its banking sector is heating up. Old and new players are vying for a bigger slice of the action in a country that is still underbanked. Adina Postelnicu reports.
Shin Sang-hoon: hopes to leverage cross-selling opportunities after acquisition of LG Cards
Competition among South Korea’s financial institutions is intensifying, and consolidations are still on the cards. Local giants such as Shinhan Bank are looking to neighbouring markets for opportunities. Karina Robinson reports.
How do you get to be in charge of all of Latin America for a major Wall Street bank by the age of 35? Do a great a job as head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is the answer in the case of Nicolás Aguzín.
Agustín Carstens: Mexico may need his skills to push through reforms that keep growth on track
He was Mexico’s deputy finance minister in the first half of President Vicente Fox’s administration, pushing for fiscal reform and credited with doing an excellent job, particularly in his handling of the country’s fractious Congress (not, as bankers point out, something at which the Fox administration in general has been very good).
He first did it for Continental Illinois (now part of Bank of America) before the debt crisis. Then he did it for Bear Stearns. Afterwards he did it for Morgan Stanley. Now he hopes to do it for Deutsche Bank.
Bond trader André Esteves hit the jackpot in May when UBS agreed to buy Brazilian investment bank Banco Pactual, in which he holds a 30% stake, for $2.6bn.
Carlos Slim Helú: rarely a week goes by without a new venture being announced
Listed by Forbes as the third richest man in the world behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, no list of Latin America’s big hitters would be complete without Mexico’s Carlos Slim. After making another $6bn last year, the 66-year-old’s net worth is now estimated to be about $30bn.
Manuel Medina-Mora: regional growth potential is ‘substantial’
Five years after a big bank acquisition, it is a rare deal that is viewed as an unmitigated success. But that is what has happened in the case of Citigroup’s purchase of Mexican bank Banamex.
Marcelo Mindlin: Argentina ‘needs investment, both foreign and local’
He may not control the billions of dollars that some of our other big hitters do, but Marcelo Mindlin of private equity fund Grupo Dolphin nonetheless makes our list as part of a new class of Argentine entrepreneur, aggressively (re)making their fortunes in the aftermath of the country’s massive 2001 default.
Luis Alberto Moreno: ‘We have to realign the bank to be more flexible’
Luis Alberto Moreno spent seven years as Colombia’s ambassador to the US and made such a good impression that Washington backed his bid to become president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) last October.
Roberto Setúbal: planning one more big acquisition in Brazil to boost market share
When we think of global retail banks, we tend to think of Citibank and HSBC. But it is possible that in a decade’s time, one or two banks from a fast-growing developing country might be a household name alongside these giants.
“I have a passion for winning,” says Alberto Verme, Citigroup’s 49-year-old co-head of global investment banking. Born in Ica, a small town south of Lima, Peru, Mr Verme was Citigroup’s global head of energy, power and chemicals in 2001, when he secured a critical mandate: advising Conoco on its $15.6bn merger with Phillips.
Francisco Santos: ‘from the president all the way down, we have become promoters of Colombia’
Economic growth in Colombia is brisk: purchasing power is up and inflation is at its lowest for 40 years. But what of the security issue? Courtney Fingar reports from Bogata.
Carlos Alberto Sandoval, Asobancaria: tax on financial transactions is limiting the sector and economy
Colombia offers financial opportunities to acquisitive global banks but problems such as tax and access continue to hinder growth. Courtney Fingar reports.
Yet again, Saudi Arabia’s banks dominate The Banker’s Top 100 Arab banks listing but, as Stephen Timewell reports, there is good news across the region.
Most Jordanian share prices fell sharply as the recent pall of gloom descended over Middle Eastern politics. But profits continue to soar and banks are bullish, write Nadine Marroushi and Jon Marks.
Iranian minister of economics affairs and finance Davood Danesh Jafari talks to Stephen Timewell about his country’s privatisation drive, which will see some of its state-owned enterprises offered to the private sector.
Banks’ change of focus from product orientation to customer orientation is bringing benefits, not least in being able to understand a customer’s value and market the right products. And that is where new technology can help, Dan Barnes reports.
Two underlying themes of MiFID – forcing systematic internalisers to become transparent and defining liquid shares for all EU member states – will result in the role of national exchanges and market data providers being called into question. By Chris Skinner.
Banks’ offerings have been saturated with traditional products, and duplicative and tactical responses to regulatory mandates add extra burdens to fragmented business operations and administrative overheads.
A recent roundtable organised by The Banker looked at the opportunities and issues faced by banks in dealing with fraud and money laundering. A group of anti-fraud professionals from leading banks took part in the discussion, chaired by The Banker’s contributing editors Mike Imeson andChris Skinner.
In the tough environment of capital markets, people skills are often forgotten. Bank of America’s capital markets CIO talks to Dan Barnes about the virtues of trust and how his management approach has seen him voted CIO of the Year 2006.
Geraldine Lambe, Investment Banking and Capital Markets Editor The Banker
IN 1692, the English philosopher and economist, John Locke, advocated the defeat of a parliamentary bill designed to cut the maximum permissible rate of interest from 6% to 4%. Locke’s opposition was based on the law of unintended consequences.
Philip Allison, Head of automated trading, UBS Investment Bank
Market structure dynamics have led to the demand for advanced algorithms that work on a global scale but that also meet the regional requirements and increasingly sophisticated needs of the buy side. Philip Allison and Will Sterling of UBS Investment Bank look at future developments.
Richard Balarkas, Head of advanced execution services sales at Credit Suisse
As market structures change, only the largest brokers will be able to justify maintaining the complex platforms needed for the electronic and algorithmic trading systems that are redefining the relationship between brokers’ trading desks and their clients, writes Richard Balarkas of Credit Suisse.
Steven Wood, Executive director and global head of trading investment, Schroder Investment Management Limited
Steven Wood, executive director and global head of trading investment at Schroder Investment Management Limited, argues that though algorithmic trading and direct market access are leading to a small revolution in front-office trading, such trading tools will never replace the traders themselves.
