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A corporate cornerstone in the Philippines, Ayala Corp has recently seen a top-level reshuffle. But the core remains stable, the country's biggest conglomerate assures, even as it explores some unlikely new avenues. Chris Wright reports.

Covered bonds, AAA rated debt, are growing in popularity with Asia's investors. And as the number of transactions out of Europe increases, the issuers know they need the Asian bid on their side if the deal is going to be a success.

With commodity prices soaring for the fourth consecutive year, commodity derivatives are enjoying their highest level of popularity among investors in more than a generation. The Goldman Sachs Commodities Index, the most venerable index tracking the futures prices of commodities, rose 25.6% year on year by the end of 2005, while the London Metal Exchange is already up 44% year to date. Goldman Sachs estimates that US$80 billion was invested in various commodities indices globally in 2005 and expects this to double by 2010.

Given the global speculation surrounding the potential appreciation of the Chinese renminbi, and with it other Asian currencies, over the past two years, it's no surprise that interest has swelled among regional investors towards investing in currency structured products. The demand from private bank investors who mainly invest in medium-term notes, has been strong. The top 20 investment banks issued US$9 billion of Asian currency-linked medium-term notes (excluding Japanese yen) in 2004, rising to US$13 billion in 2005 with US$6 billion issues so far this year.

Credit-linked products have benefited from the global rally in bond spreads despite a couple of high-level downgrades last year that affected the broader market. The market has continued to grow robustly - one banker estimates that it has doubled in size every year since 1999. And many of Asia's institutional investors have been extremely active. The most popular underlying instruments have tended to be collateralized bond obligations (CDOs)—both cash and synthetic, credit default swaps (CDS) and constant portfolio protection insurance (CPPI) products, which have an actively managed portion that is generally linked to credit default swaps or a tradeable CDS index such as Dow Jones' CDX and iTraxx indices. Products linked to CDSs and indices are typically bespoke and tailored to take advantage of the correlation in default patterns among borrowers.

Indian companies and banks are raising debt like never before, but their growing spirit of adventure is taking away from the local-currency debt market. Chris Wright reports.

The Philippine government wants its citizens to do the cha-cha, or rather push for constitutional change.

With economic reforms now in place, the Philippines' government expects the country's fortunes to improve. But, as Alastair McIndoe reports, don't expect another "Asian tiger" to roar just yet.

Most of Asia's biggest equity issues of late have included POWLs (public offerings without listing), served up solely for retail investors in Japan. These tranches are likely to be included in deals to come, including the Bank of China IPO. But is it becoming an outdated mechanism when Asian liquidity flows are so strong? Richard Morrow reports.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding officials were in Jakarta last month talking to domestic investment banks about a forthcoming debut rupiah bond issue, generating something of a buzz in the usually quiet market.

Hong Kong's stock market has been buoyed by such a wave of retail euphoria towards new listings that many caution it will end in tears. Could Bank of China's giant debut combine with high levels of leverage to be the party pooper in the current bull run? Elliot Wilson reports

Over the past year, equity-linked products have enjoyed a bonanza on the back of burgeoning regional stock exchanges. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index offers one example, rocketing from 13,481 in January 2005 to 16,661 now.