February 2009

DEFLATION   US policymakers have already braced themselves for a bout of deflation, and many corporations are quaking at the prospect of price declines. Some are wondering, though, how bad can it really get?     That the global economy, ...

STARS OF CHINA Over the past decade, China’s government has been working on an ambitious plan to improve the health, transparency and effectiveness of its country’s sprawling banking system. Weighed down with bad loans, mired in bureaucracy and often plagued ...

ANNUAL SURVEY / BEST TRADE FINANCE BANKS Trade finance banks are enjoying rising demand for basic risk management services as world trade faces a difficult period. Global trade is expected to decline in 2009 for the first time since 1982, ...

AFRICA     Leaving a hole: Foreign firms have shut down Zambian mines as ore prices plummet Guinea’s military leaders chose former banker Kabine Komara as the new prime minister, tasked with coordinating a return to civilian rule after last ...

BRAZIL     Revving up: BV stake boosts Banco do Brasil’s auto loan portfolio The Brazilian government returned to international capital markets in January with $1.025 billion in dollar-denominated global bonds maturing in 2019. The 10-year issue, led by Goldman ...

DR NEWS Seeking to raise its profile with international investors, BRMalls, Brazil’s largest shopping mall operator, upgraded its restricted American depositary receipt program to a Level I facility sponsored by J.P. Morgan. Rio de Janeiro-based BRMalls offers an opportunity for ...

CHINA       Bank of China: Foreign investors cashing in stakes   China will offer tax cuts and subsidies to spur its steel and automotive industries, the country’s State Council announced on January 14. The government will limit expansion ...

INDIA     Caught in a jam: Many of India’s key indicators are slumping Following the revelation of accounting fraud by Satyam Computers, India’s fourth-largest IT services company, the stock recorded one of the worst drops in Indian stock market ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: TENCENT HOLDINGS/CHINA Instant messaging (IM) has become a cultural phenomenon in China. Tencent Holdings is a Hong Kong-listed company with the bulk of its assets in China, where its QQ brand controls 80% of the IM market. ...

NEWS     With US treasury bonds offering paltry rates of return, investors are taking a closer look at emerging market debt as a way to pick up an additional 600 basis points or more of yield. EM bond funds ...

MIDDLE EAST       All change: GCC countries hope to adopt a single currency   At the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Oman in December, Gulf Arab leaders approved a monetary union to be implemented by the end ...

RUSSIA     Constant pressure: Ukraine and Russia tussle over gas supply contracts In what has become an annual ritual, just after the start of the new year Russia cut off the supply of natural gas to Ukraine—and, given the ...

ASIA-PACIFIC     Asia looks to cash in on its emerging Islamic financial center status. The Asia-Pacific region already accounts for 60% of the world’s Islamic banking assets and could be a center of growth for the shariah-compliant finance industry ...

GLOBAL     IMF: Expects heavy demand for funds. In the most bearish research report on emerging markets seen by Global Finance since the credit crisis began, an RBC Capital research note published on January 15 claims that most major ...

CHILE     Chile's president Bachelet: Stimulating economic growth. While high copper prices had maintained Chile’s economy as Latin America’s strongest, it seems the party is over as prices plummet and demand wanes. The South American country, the world’s largest ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     The volume of worldwide mergers and acquisitions fell 30% last year compared with 2007, but the decline in announced deals would have been even larger without the government bailouts of financial institutions, which represented a ...

CORPORATE DEBT     Government programs designed to thaw the frozen credit markets appeared to be having some effect in early January, opening a window of opportunity for a flood of investment-grade corporate debt issues, but analysts say the credit ...

FOREIGN EXCHANGE     The dollar rose in early January, as investors weighed the likely effects of president-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan and as analysts said the United States could be the first major economy to recover from the ...

GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS     Initial public offerings in the United States plunged 86% last year to the lowest level in 31 years, with only one IPO priced in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Thomson Reuters. By comparison, 60 ...

UNITED STATES   As the credit crisis deepens and government measures to kick-start bank lending fall short of the mark, the mood among company CEOs, particularly those with operations in Europe and Asia, is beginning to darken. These are the ...

UNITED STATES     Barack Obama takes the oath of office during the inauguration ceremony President Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20 bordered on a coronation, but the rhetoric will have to be turned quickly into reality if the historic ...

INDIA     Satyam: Facing disaster When Satyam Computers’ founder, chairman & CEO Ramalinga Raju revealed the depth of the accounting fraud he had perpetuated for more than a decade, investors were left with more questions than answers, particularly about ...