April 2009

MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL REPORT   In Dubai and other financial centers around the Middle East, there are increasing signs that prudence and a focus on Islamic financing are paying off.     Sulaiman: Middle East economy is in a better ...

MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL REPORT RECESSION PROOF Saudi Arabia epitomizes the trend toward big spending on infrastructure by oil-rich nations that is keeping their economies afloat. By Gordon Platt The Middle East is not immune to the effects of the global ...

  REGIONAL FOCUS ASIA       Asia’s economic powerhouses are shifting to a new economic model. The transition will be painful—but will also pay huge dividends. By Thomas Clouse Asia has played a starring role in the story of ...

TREASURY & CASH MANAGEMENT ASIA REGIONAL REPORT   Many businesses in Asia were well prepared for the credit crunch, having learned some important lessons in previous regional crises. By Anita Hawser   As the subprime crisis rocked the foundations of ...

FOCUS ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT   Risk managers are heading back to the drawing board after finding their systems were incapable of flagging up the perils that have brought the financial and corporate worlds to their knees.   First developed more ...

  WORLD’S BEST DEVELOPED MARKETS BANKS 2009       Global Finance unveils its annual list of the best banks in developed markets around the world. By Laurence Neville When Global Finance published its 2008 awards a year ago, the ...

ANNUAL SURVEY/ SAFEST BANKS MID-YEAR UPDATE Global Finance selects the world’s safest banks, the 50 institutions with the highest ratings from the leading credit ratings agencies. Such has been the turmoil in the world’s banking industry that Global Finance is ...

Tsvangirai: Vowed to restore relations with the IMF. The African Development Bank has used its own capital base to create a $1.5 billion trade finance facility that aims to fuel trade and investment in the region. African commercial lenders and ...

Brazil's air force is helping finance Embraer's $500 million development program for a new military transport plane. Following Brazil’s recent credit boom, banks are starting to face increased customer arrears. A research report from BB Investimentos, a division of Banco ...

DR NEWS Byblos Bank, one of the leading banks in Lebanon, listed its global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange, which now trades 37 companies based in the Middle East. Byblos Bank, which has expanded rapidly into international markets ...

On track: China's stimulus package will boost railroad investment. China is pouring money into railroads and energy production as the implementation of the country’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package moves forward. Urban fixed asset investment grew by 26.5% ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COLI/CHINA China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI), a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering, could be a beneficiary of China’s economic stimulus package. China’s largest developer by market value, COLI also focuses on infrastructure investment. The Hong ...

NEWS     The first exchange-traded fund that seeks to replicate the performance of the 20 most-liquid securities in the Colombian market has begun trading on NYSE Arca, an all-electronic US trading platform. Global X Management, a New York-based asset ...

  Electoral gains: Poll-related spending will help boost India's economy in 2009. According to a consensus taken from a group of prominent Indian economists, including those representing the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, J.P. Morgan India and S&P; Asia Pacific, ...

Sechin: Russia's deputy prime minister and Rosneft chairman. In a signal that the Russian government is increasingly aware of the financial constraints it is facing, a top Kremlin adviser said that the state would not be bailing out any more ...

China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI), a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering, could be a beneficiary of China’s economic stimulus package. China’s largest developer by market value, COLI also focuses on infrastructure investment. The Hong Kong-listed developer is controlled ...

BYBLOS BANK LISTS IN LONDON; FIRST LEBANESE FIRM IN 12 YEARS Byblos Bank, one of the leading banks in Lebanon, listed its global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange, which now trades 37 companies based in the Middle East. ...

FIRST COLOMBIAN ETF TRADES ON NYSE ARCA The first exchange-traded fund that seeks to replicate the performance of the 20 most-liquid securities in the Colombian market has begun trading on NYSE Arca, an all-electronic US trading platform. Global X Management, ...

Tsvangirai: Vowed to restore relations with the IMF The African Development Bank has used its own capital base to create a $1.5 billion trade finance facility that aims to fuel trade and investment in the region. African commercial lenders and ...

Brazil's air force is helping finance Embraer's $500 million development program for a new military transport plane Following Brazil’s recent credit boom, banks are starting to face increased customer arrears. A research report from BB Investimentos, a division of Banco ...

On track: China's stimulus package will boost railroad investment China is pouring money into railroads and energy production as the implementation of the country’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package moves forward. Urban fixed asset investment grew by 26.5% ...

Electoral gains: Poll-related spending will help boost India's economy in 2009 According to a consensus taken from a group of prominent Indian economists, including those representing the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, J.P. Morgan India and S&P; Asia Pacific, the ...

Sechin: Russia's deputy prime minister and Rosneft chairman In a signal that the Russian government is increasingly aware of the financial constraints it is facing, a top Kremlin adviser said that the state would not be bailing out any more ...

RUNNING ON EMPTY Russia is facing some tough decisions as it adjusts to a far more challenging economic and political environment.         Just over a decade after Russia’s forced devaluation of the ruble and default on its ...

ON A KNIFE EDGE TURKEY   Turkey is well positioned to weather a global downturn, but it still faces some tough economic challenges.   Tansan: Ankara must hold out for the best possible terms from the IMF. There was a ...

UNITED KINGDOM               Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), much criticized for regulatory and supervisory failings that critics say have exacerbated the country’s financial crisis, is to abandon its much-vaunted light-touch approach to regulation.   ...

EUROPE       The cross-border M&A; activity that has characterized financial services for the past few years has virtually ground to a halt as increasing government involvement radically reshapes the market.   PwC's Nick Page Nick Page, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ...

UNITED KINGDOM     Turner: Getting tough. Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), much criticized for regulatory and supervisory failings that critics say have exacerbated the country’s financial crisis, is to abandon its much-vaunted light-touch approach to regulation. FSA chairman Adair ...

EUROPE     PwC's Nick Page. The cross-border M&A; activity that has characterized financial services for the past few years has virtually ground to a halt as increasing government involvement radically reshapes the market. Nick Page, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, says M&A; ...

ICE BEGINS CLEARING CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS AS COUNTERPARTY RISK HITS RECORD HIGH The first central counterparty clearinghouse for credit default swaps (CDS) began operating on March 9, the same day that perceptions of default risk among the largest derivatives market ...

DOLLAR STAYS STRONG, BUT YEN TUMBLES The US dollar index, a measure of the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies, rose to a three-year high in March, as investors continued to seek the safe haven of US ...

NYSE LISTS CARBON ALLOWANCES FUND     The calendar of planned initial public offerings in the US was bone dry last month, and the only issue of size on the international horizon was a scheduled $1 billion preferred securities offering ...

DRUG MERGERS EASE M&A; DROUGHT   The need for bigger drug-development pipelines and more diversified businesses with greater geographic reach is fueling a wave of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry that is providing investment bankers with some much-needed underwriting fees. ...

FOREIGN EXCHANGE       The US dollar index, a measure of the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies, rose to a three-year high in March, as investors continued to seek the safe haven of US treasury ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS       The need for bigger drug-development pipelines and more diversified businesses with greater geographic reach is fueling a wave of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry that is providing investment bankers with some much-needed underwriting fees. ...

CORPORATE DEBT     The first central counterparty clearinghouse for credit default swaps (CDS) began operating on March 9, the same day that perceptions of default risk among the largest derivatives market makers in the over-the-counter market rose to an ...

GLOBAL EQUITY /DRS       The calendar of planned initial public offerings in the US was bone dry last month, and the only issue of size on the international horizon was a scheduled $1 billion preferred securities offering by ...

CHINA / UNITED STATES     Wen Jiabao: May be preparing ground for major policy shift. Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, has had a lot to say about US treasury bonds and the relative value of the yuan lately. Perhaps he ...

SWITZERLAND       Roth: Doing the whole region a favor by pushing down the franc.       Jean-Pierre Roth, the low-key chairman of the Swiss National Bank, is not the type of person you would expect to shock ...

Wen Jiabao:May be preparing ground for major policy shift Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, has had a lot to say about US treasury bonds and the relative value of the yuan lately. Perhaps he misses his strategic economic dialogue with former ...

Jean-Pierre Roth, the low-key chairman of the Swiss National Bank, is not the type of person you would expect to shock the financial world. But that is exactly what he did on March 12 when he confirmed that the bank ...

  BUYER’S GUIDE     Global Finance presents its annual sponsored guide to the leading providers in the global custody market.   SUB-CUSTODIANS DEUTSCHE BANK Custody Assets: 2008: €1.272 trillion 2007: €1.609 trillion Ratings: Moody’s Aa1, S&P; A+, Fitch AA- ...

SEEKING AN ENERGY BOOST COUNTRY REPORT / PORTUGAL Increased competition from new entrants to the European Union has dealt a severe blow to Portugal’s economy. Tourism and investment in renewable energy are helping it pick up the slack.     ...

United Kingdom/United States       Perella: Sees major opportunities   Joseph Perella’s new investment firm looks well positioned to book some major deals in the Middle East. With petrodollars from around the world flooding into investments in the Gulf ...

Colombia       Uribe: Washington’s ally   Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, the conservative right-wing leader reelected in May, remains Washington’s closest ally in a region governed overwhelmingly by center-left administrations. Critics, however, assert that the 53- year-old attorney, educated ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     The four-year-old boom in private equity investing reached a feverish pitch this summer as firms awash with cash hurried to put some of it to work in corporate takeovers and billions of dollars more poured ...

CHINA     Competition between Beijing and Shanghai to become China’s financial center intensified as Beijing officials launched a road show to lure European financial institutions to the capital. Although Shanghai is home to one of China’s two stock exchanges, ...