Still M&A bankers can always look to Germany, where the long-awaited consolidation now seems imminent. However, those who were speculating on a Citi/Deutsche deal obviously were not listening to Citi CEO Chuck Prince, who had already said that the bank was more likely to do fill-in deals (witness the Washington Mutual deal) than transformational ones.

HSBC is advising Rosbank on its retail strategy and AT Kearney, which seems an unlikely choice, is advising HSBC on its investment banking model. The project reports to Mark Ramsey, acting head of global equities. Like every bank, HSBC has to figure out how to cover the high costs of research by means of paltry broking commissions, especially since research working with corporate finance is now a no-no. The answer is simply to cut the crap.

Chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank
John Costas is enjoying life. Not only has his firm, UBS, made
substantial inroads into traditional US territory, it is also showing
enviable profits. He talked to Geraldine Lambe about the firm’s appetite for growth.

Equity-linked issuance continues to bloom. Jules Stewart reports
on the product innovations, new issuers and investor appetite that are
likely to keep the market growing even as volatility drops and interest
rates rise.

Deutsche Bank has worked on all three pillars of ABB’s tripartite
corporate action plan – only the second of its kind to be implemented Geraldine Lambe reports on how the market’s negative perceptions of the firm have been reversed.

When Ford Motor Company faced the possibility of a serious downgrade by
S&P’s, both the auto sector and the bond market held their breath. Geraldine Lambe reports on how Ford kept in the game.

Emerging market credit derivatives are experiencing a resurgence after
turbulent times. Current activity is led by sovereign names and
investors looking for yield pick-up, but corporate names and liability
management are in the wings. Natasha de Teran reports.

The JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta may not be the obvious place to stage
a roadshow: only weeks before, a car bomb exploded nearby, killing 14
people, injuring 150 and destroying the lobby. But that was the
location chosen by Bank Rakyat Indonesia to spread the message about
its recent IPO when 40.5% of the state-owned bank was floated on the
Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Investors calling their investment banks to place an equities’ order
should not be surprised if the call is not returned. After
Spitzer, the equities’ brokerage business is looking patently
lacklustre. The great research engines that the banks built just cannot
be kept firing on meagre broking commissions. Without the allure
of corporate finance, they are looking distinctly expensive
propositions.