Geraldine Lambe reports on the storm that is raging over proposals to introduce US-style government-sponsored agencies in Europe to aid the integration of the mortgage-backed securities market.
European financial markets are usually chastised for taking the interventionist rather than the market route. Europe’s bureaucracy-heavy approach is blamed for slower growth and lower production levels compared with the leaner, meaner US financial machine. But in the case of a proposal from the European Mortgage Finance Agency project group (EMFA) to create a pan-European institution, sponsored by the EU, red-tape wielding Eurocrats cannot be held responsible.

Timing conspired to line up three back-to-back, ground-breaking deals for Merrill Lynch’s Financial Institutions Group, allowing it to clinch 10 firsts in three markets within five days. Geraldine Lambe reports on the team’s many reasons to celebrate.

Parmalat’s fall from grace in December indicates inadequate disclosure by the company – at best. The markets are spooked and the company’s five-year spreads have widened to 2408.8 basis points. Geraldine Lambe reports.

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.

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.

Geraldine Lambe analyses The Banker’s Credit Risk 500 and finds the figures add up to a positive picture for corporates and financials as spreads tighten across all sectors.

Managing director, co-head European credit markets, global fixed income credit markets, Citigroup
Charlie Berman tells Geraldine Lambe that Citigroup is perfectly positioned to capitalise on a European shift to a capital markets-based corporate funding.

CSFB’s cancellation bond for Fifa last month proved that the capital markets are increasingly willing, and more than able, to absorb risk traditionally taken by the insurance sector. Geraldine Lambe reports on this idiosyncratic issue.