January 2011

COVER STORY: THE NEW RISKS   By Laurence Neville   Last year the global economy dodged some scary-looking bullets. This year it might not be so lucky.   As volatile and unnerving as it was, 2010 provided a welcome respite ...

FOCUS: COMMODITY RISK   By Michael Shari   Renewed turmoil in Europe, supply shortages and the growing impact of financial investors are driving renewed demand for commodities hedging.   For most of 2010, producers and consumers of many commodities had ...

TRENDS: ISLAMIC FINANCE IN LATIN AMERICA   By Antonio Guerrero   With Islamic financial institutions seeking to expand into emerging markets in Africa and Asia, could Latin America be next?   While Islamic financial institutions have aggressively expanded through Asia and ...

UPDATE: SEPA   By Anita Hawser   Proponents of the Single Euro Payments Area are considering stringent measures to encourage companies to hop on board.   As eurozone countries busy themselves implementing liquidity measures designed to calm market fears about ...

ANNUAL SURVEY: UNCERTAINTY BREEDS CURRENCY VOLATILITY   By Gordon Platt   Global Finance selects the leaders in the world's biggest financial market, where trading averages $4 trillion a day.   Europe's sovereign debt crisis, China's monetary tightening and the Federal ...

Best Foreign Exchange Research & Analysis Research BNY Mellon BNY Mellon, one of the largest foreign exchange dealers in the US, offers support in virtually all currencies, with particular expertise in emerging market currencies. In addition to being the largest ...

Best Online Foreign Exchange Trading Systems Bank System State Street's Currenex Currenex, part of State Street Global Markets, offers streaming prices that are available for immediate trading from more than 60 global banks. Currenex also offers one of the largest ...

ANNUAL SURVEY: EM 200   By Dan Keeler   Regional powerhouses in Asia and Latin America continue to build their presence as their markets recover strongly from the global recession.   While much of the developed world continues to wrestle ...

Global Winner Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank has the biggest, most diversified and most profitable foreign exchange operation in the world. "The critical factor is that we are excellent across the board—by client type, by region and by products," says Kevin ...

Regional Winners North America Citi Citi is one of the largest FX providers in the world, with more than 1,400 currency trading and sales professionals in 85 countries. "We continue to invest heavily in our business," says Jeff Feig, managing ...

EMERGING MARKETS INVESTOR: DR NEWS   By Gordon Platt   Companies based in Taiwan that already have global depositary receipt (GDR) programs will explore establishing new Level 1 American depositary receipt (ADR) programs over the next 18 months, according to ...

ROUNDUP: AFRICA   By Antonio Guerrero   Electricity goes private Nigeria requires annual investments of up to $10 billion to tackle its infrastructure deficit, according to government officials in Abuja. Much of the investment would be focused on meeting the ...

ROUNDUP: BRAZIL   By Antonio Guerrero   Rousseff: Getting off to a steady start Brazil's newly installed president, Dilma Rousseff, provided a firm indication of her administration's plan to continue the economic policies of her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da ...

ROUNDUP: CHINA   By Thomas Clouse   China's Internet users present a rich potential market Growth in consumer and producer prices in China continued to accelerate in November, prompting policy makers to raise reserve ratios and direct the country's state-owned ...

ROUNDUP: INDIA   By Aaron Chaze   India's craving for luxury cars grows Significant improvement in heavy industrial sectors drove up India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) by nearly 11% year-on-year during October 2010, a significant step up from September's ...

ROUNDUP: MIDDLE EAST   By Gordon Platt   Abu Dhabi tries to outdo Dubai with new port facilities Abu Dhabi is pulling out all the stops to create a major port and industrial zone that will rival Dubai as a ...

ROUNDUP: RUSSIA   By Kim Iskyan   World Cup fever in Russia Global football organization FIFA awarded Russia the right to host the World Cup tournament in 2018, triggering jubilation throughout the country. The Russian government estimated that building 13 ...

EMERGING MARKET INVESTOR: COMPANY TO WATCH: INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES / INDIA   By Gordon Platt   Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies, the second largest company by market capitalization on the Bombay Stock Exchange, announced one of the first mobile-banking solutions that offers financial-management ...

EMERGING MARKET INVESTOR: NEWS   By Gordon Platt   Faced with a widening budget deficit in the wake of its economic stimulus program, Russia is rolling out the red carpet to foreign investors with a $39 billion privatization program. The ...

LIBYA: OPENING UP   By Justin Keay   As its economy slowly becomes more open, Libya is attracting the attention of a wider range of potential investors than just adventurous oil companies.   In the old days of the Soviet ...

MILESTONES: CHINA   By Denise Bedell   High energy: Government targets boost windpower With strong government backing and clear goals for increased capacity development, China is fast surpassing its counterparts in the West, including the US and Germany, in building ...

MILESTONES: LATIN AMERICA   By Antonio Guerrero   Looking up: Poverty is declining in Latin America Latin America's robust recovery from the global financial crisis is having an impact even on the poorest people in the region, according to a ...

MILESTONES: SOUTH KOREA   By Thomas Clouse   Seoul: Tighter ties with the United States South Korea finalized details of its free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States last month, more than three years after the former presidents of ...

MILESTONES: UNITED STATES/CHINA   By Gordon Platt   Tired: Trade spat rolls on The fallout from the World Trade Organization's ruling last month that the US was within its rights in imposing import tariffs of up to 35% on Chinese ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT   By Gordon Platt   The high-yield corporate debt market was unscathed by the dramatic sell-off in the US treasuries market in early December that followed news of President Obama's deal with congressional Republicans to ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS — GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS: CORPORATE FINANCE FOCUS   By Gordon Platt   Coming off the bailout of Ireland, and with several other European countries denying they need outside help, the outlook for the financial markets in 2011 is ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE By Gordon Platt The tax deal reached between President Obama and the opposition Republican Party could boost US economic growth to around 3% in 2011, economists forecast. The improved economic outlook and rising bond yields ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS   By Gordon Platt   There will be a substantial increase in mergers and acquisitions in 2011, following a relatively flat year for M&A; in 2010, as companies have plenty of cash to spend ...

NEWSMAKERS: EUROPE   By Justin Keay   Piebalgs: Pressing Europeans to give more Spare a thought for Andris Piebalgs, the EU's development commissioner. At a time when politicians across Europe are telling people to tighten their belts during the toughest ...

NEWSMAKERS: QATAR   By Anita Hawser   Hussain: Islamic banks must resolve key issues As Qatar kicks off its campaign to ensure it has the infrastructure to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the region's banks are hoping the massive ...

NEWSMAKERS: UK   By Anita Awser   High risk: UK bribery law will affect companies worldwide In a sign that regulators are clamping down on bribery and corruption in international business, from April 2011 the UK will implement what legal ...

NEWSMAKERS: UNITED STATES   By Gordon Platt   Obama: Changing course President Barack Obama's tax deal with the Republican opposition and his efforts to woo business leaders demonstrate a willingness to compromise and suggest a new direction for his administration ...

SPONSORED ROUNDTABLE: LOOKING AHEAD   Moderated by Joseph Giarraputo   Global Finance brings together some of the top minds in treasury and cash management to discuss risk management, technology, regulation and the future of cash management.   Global Finance: We ...