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MobileOne made a less than sparkling debut on the Singapore stock market on Wednesday. Yesterday (Thursday), UBS Warburg was revealed as the buyer of 24m MobileOne shares on the first day of trading for Singapore's second largest mobile telephone company, presumably making use of a portion of the 90m share greenshoe. The buying was designed to help stabilise the shares on a day when investors were selling in the wake of more data that indicated Singapore's economy would continue to be weak.

Samsung Life Insurance Co Ltd this week brought a new asset class to the international capital markets. Bichumi Global 1 Ltd, a $299.6m deal arranged and led by Morgan Stanley, is the first cross-border securitisation of Korean residential mortgages.

At the Euromoney China Conference in Beijing this week, senior government officials said they considered a strong bond market to be a key feature of a healthy capital market and were looking to improve it, including eventually allowing private companies to issue bonds, as well as the state owned corporates that currently issue. "Are we looking to expand the corporate bond market? - absolutely," Li Qingyuan, director general, strategy and development committee at the CSRC told EuroWeek. "We are examining ways as a regulator to encourage the market. A lot of that involves encouraging effective and stable agencies to help provide transparency."

Australia Macquarie Bank this week priced a A$300m consumer loan ABS for UFJ Australia. Symphony Trust No 3 is secured on commercial hire purchase and chattel mortgage agreements.

DRAM maker Powerchip completed the sale of $90m of convertible bonds on Monday. Due to the wide credit spread for the issuer and the consequent difficulty of attaining a high bond floor, the company agreed to the inclusion of a novel conversion price reset option, devised by Nomura. Without the inclusion of the mechanism, it is unlikely Powerchip could have raised the funds, given the general difficulties in the Taiwan stock market and the uncertain outlook for the DRAM sector.

The People's Republic of China opened up its stock and bond markets to international investors this week. Under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) scheme - which became effective on December 1 - qualified fund managers, insurance companies, commercial banks and securities companies can access the renminbi 'A' share and domestic Treasury bond market for the first time.

n Hana Bank looks likely to become the first Korean bank to launch a hybrid tier one preferred securities issue, following the release of guidelines by the Korean authorities in mid-November. Bankers hope it will herald a rush by the Korean banks to boost their capital adequacy. Barclays Capital and JP Morgan are lead managing the $300m perpetual issue which has a 10 year call option. The Reg S Eurobonds are issued indirectly by Hana Bank through Hana Bank Funding (Caymans). They should be priced on Monday, following roadshows this week in Hong Kong, Singapore and London and the delay of a holiday in Singapore today (Friday).

Korean issues continued to dominate the Asian debt capital markets this week with a $300m offering from Kookmin Bank. Two more deals - for Hana Bank and Korea Western Power - are expected to be priced on Monday.

Amount: Eu1bn Legal maturity: December 15, 2035

Wasn't it Willie Sutton who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied: "Because that's where the money is!" Of course Willie was right, although anyone holding up a branch of Credit Suisse or HVB this week might be told that there's nothing in the till. But time has moved on since the days of Willie Sutton and Bonnie and Clyde. The latest wheeze to get rich without having to work too hard is to be an executive assistant to a high-rolling investment banker or Euromarketeer.

Compiled by: Richard Favis RBC Capital Markets

French borrowers dominated the euro market as trading picked up from last week's levels. They issued 15 notes totalling almost $1bn. CDC IXIS Capital Markets was the busiest name, closing four trades totalling Eu40m. One for Eu10m, lead managed by Morgan Stanley, pays an annual coupon of 5.2% and matures in 15 years. Entenial's Eu200m note is fungible from payment date with a Eu300m issue launched on March 20. The new deal pays a coupon of 15bp over three month Euribor and was lead managed by Crédit Agricole Indosuez. Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel's Eu250m trade was the largest French deal of the week. The note pays a first coupon of 6.5% and matures in July 2013.