Deutsche Bank’s successful euro issuance for Brazil helped the dollar market to rally, setting the stage for it to do subsequent dollar and euro deals for a diverse range of issuers. Sophie Roell reports.
The Greeks may have won Euro 2004 but the Germans are firmly in the lead when it comes to euro issuance out of Latin America.

Another active issuer this year has been Rabobank, whose offerings include a €1.25bn five-year benchmark deal in January, which generated solid demand in Asia.
“We do some benchmark issues in dollars but, over the past 18 months, we’ve generally found it more cost effective to issue in euros,” says Patrick Mitchell, head of funding at Rabobank in Singapore. “The amount of our euro-denominated paper placed in Asia has increased over the past 12 months, and 20% of a euro benchmark trade would now typically be sold in Asia.”

Although Asian investors still favour dollar-denominated bonds, their interest in euro deals is growing, stimulating European issuers to work on building up their Asian investment base. Michael Marray reports.
European bond issuers are devoting an increasing amount of their time to the Asian investor base, tapping into the fast-growing demand for fixed income assets from central banks and private accounts.

Whereas us and European retail investors are used to investing in more traditional investment products such as mutual funds, Asian investors demand something rather more exciting. This has led to great innovation in exotic options and UBS is one bank creating innovative new structures to be sold direct to investors or wholesale through private banks.

As new frameworks such as Basel II are implemented by Asia’s regulators, the region’s banks will have to adopt innovative new ways of raising debt and capital.Brian Caplen explains.
In the grim days following the Asian financial crisis, efficient capital management was not a concept much in vogue with the region’s banks.
Staying alive in any shape or form was the focus, not fussing about different forms of capital. But now the onward march of regulation in Asia and new demands from shareholders are concentrating the minds of bank management.

SocGen CEO Daniel Bouton talks to Karina Robinson about the sense and synergies of cross-border mergers.
Once I got over the disappointment of having lunch in the utilitarian Société Générale tower in the conurbation of La Défense, rather than in a superb Parisian restaurant such as Pierre Gagnaire, it was awfully pleasing on the food front.

Banking analysts say that there are about 30 city commercial banks among China’s city lenders that have decent balance sheets and are worth considering for investment. Though the banks still need more capital injections from local and foreign strategic partners, they are small and do not require multibillion-dollar investments.

Wenzhou City Commercial Bank, Hangzhou City Commercial Bank and Ningbo City Commercial Bank, all lenders thriving on the booming private economy of Zhejiang Province, are front-runners in improving capital adequacy ratios, reducing NPLs and shifting from shareholder bases dominated by local government entities to those comprised mainly of private companies. Analysts say that these are among the top choices after Suzhou City Commercial Bank. Potential foreign investors have been visiting them.

Suzhou City Commercial Bank has a lot going for it and plenty of foreign suitors are lined up hoping for a stake. One factor may be the charm of its location – China’s famed garden city, just an hour away from Shanghai in the country’s fastest growing industrial region. But a bigger factor is probably its clean balance sheet.

Foreign lenders looking for tips on good potential partners often appear to take cues from the IFC: in one of several examples, the IFC proposed an investment in the Bank of Beijing by the end of 2004 and ING Groep NV took a 19.9% stake this March.