GCC debt markets poised for take-off: for the Middle Eastern economies domestic bond markets have traditionally played a fairly minor role in financial intermediation. However, as in other emerging market regions, the pace of innovation in financial products is now gaining momentum in the Arab World.
Top-tier companies in the Middle East's financial services, telecoms, real estate and transport sectors are increasingly turning to rights issues on regional stock markets, debt securities and sophisticated Islamic financial instruments for their medium and long-term funding programmes, although conventional bank lending remains the dominant source of finance. ...

Government debt management in Europe: recent changes in debt managers' strategies.
Abstract This paper presents a survey of changes in the strategies of government debt managers in European countries. These changes were introduced in response to alterations in the working environment of debt managers, like the introduction of the euro, declining government debt ratios, the introduction of electronic...

BSP relaxes its rules on unregistered comm'l papers.
Byline: LEE C. CHIPONGIAN The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has relaxed its rules on unregistered commercial papers and now permits banks to sell these debt securities without the need to go through registration process for each issuance. The Monetary Board approved amendments to Section X238...

Tighter loan-loss provision eyed.
Byline: LEE C. CHIPONGIAN Central bank officials warned banks of tighter loan-loss provisioning requirement this year as part of adjustments in risk-weights valuation, an impact of the International Accounting Standards or IAS 39. IAS 39, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas explains, "establishes the principles for...

Alternative approaches to sovereign debt restructuring.
Serious gaps exist in the means available to deal with sovereign debt crises. In recent cases of sovereign default, both the debtor country and its creditors have paid large costs, in terms of lost economic activity and income and lost value of claims. Some people see these costs as...

Enhancing sovereign debt restructuring.
Since the early 1980s, patterns of emerging market finance have changed significantly. Greater integration of capital markets and a trend toward a greater use of direct lending through bonds has led to relatively decreased use of indirect finance through syndicated bank loans. These changes have produced benefits to investors...

The survivor? Primus Telecommunications claims to have found an alternative to Chapter 11.
Several months ago, Primus Telecommunications looked set to join the many other competitive carriers in the Chapter 11 club. Revenues were declining, EBITDA was negative and the company's per-minute yields on its long-distance traffic were shrinking. Primus' exposure to more than 10 international markets was also hurting...

Celebrating Irving Fisher: the legacy of a great economist.
Introduction (1) Irving Fisher made seminal contributions across an astonishing spectrum of economic science: monetary policy rules, the neoclassical theory of capital and interest, expected inflation as the difference between real and nominal interest, the Fisher "ideal" index number, indexed bonds, correlation analysis, distributed lags, the "Phillips...

Collateral for loans from Norges Bank--consequences of changes in the rules.
Norges Bank requires collateral for all lending to banks. Collateral is provided in the form of securities which are pledged to Norges Bank. The list of eligible securities was changed in 2005. The aim of the changes has been to reduce Norges Bank's risk while ensuring that the borrowing...

Company Watch - Air Transat.
Jun 23, 2008 Air Transat parent Transat A.T. posted net income for its fiscal second quarter ended April 30 of C$40.7 million ($39.8 million), down 32.2% from C$53.8 million earned in the year-ago quarter. The company said earnings were affected negatively by a C$17.9 million writedown related...