Despite a meteoric rise to global powerhouse, the RBS board has managed to transform itself from darling to demon in the eyes of its shareholders. Geraldine Lambe charts the bank’s fall from grace.
When is an excellent management team not an excellent management team? When your shareholders don’t believe it. Such is the case with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shareholders, and their jaundiced view was amply displayed when chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin was asked if he was a megalomaniac at August’s half-year results conference. Where once they lauded Sir Fred as emperor in all his finery, now shareholders behave as if he has no clothes.

Government debt managers have become renowned for their clever financial gimmicks but is theend to what some commentators dub ‘fiscal massaging’ in sight? Geraldine Lambe investigates.

Bank of America is a leader in the US. Now it aims to boost its European standing with a clutch of high-profile hires, as international head of global markets Jonathan Moulds and head of international capital markets JC Perrig tell Geraldine Lambe.

The head of European investment banking and debt capital markets at Barclays Capital tells Geraldine Lambe why BarCap’s business continues to boom despite the debt party being almost over.

Others may doubt that HSBC can punch its weight in investment banking, but the heads of HSBC Securities USA and Global Markets, Americas, tell Geraldine Lambe that HSBC is a work in progress.
In the past year, HSBC has moved from 14th place in the US investment grade debt capital markets (DCM) league tables to number nine.

The changes in fortune of the two giant Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, offer lessons in growth strategy to bank CEOs. Geraldine Lambe and Sophie Röell look at the strategies that have worked and those that have not.

In The Banker’s annual FX Poll, we focus on the interbank market and find that despite a combination of downward pressures, the FX market offers as many opportunities as it does challenges.Geraldine Lambeanalyses the results.

CSFB’s global head of financial sponsor coverage tells Geraldine Lambe how the sector is growing in leaps and bounds and how his team has gone from ‘three guys’ to an 80-strong global business.

Investment bankers at UBS have much to smile about, but there is still room for growth, particularly in European M&A and private equity-related business. Robert Gillespie talks to Geraldine Lambe.
Exuberance is a common commodity at UBS. At the investment bank, high spirits reflect the fact that mandates that would have been unthinkable only three or four years ago are no longer surprising.

Asset management-related business is growing in volume and diversity as the search for yield and protection widens. Geraldine Lambe interviews Calvin Redlick, head of FIG for northern Europe at BNP Paribas.