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Peter Sugarman and Troy Bowker, senior members of Rabobank's structured finance team, have joined Lehman Brothers in London. Sugarman joined as managing director and European head of financial engineering and Troy Bowker joined as a director in the same group, according to a spokeswoman. Both report to Amany Attia, head of structured finance in London. The recruits started Monday. Attia, Sugarman and Bowker did not return calls. An official at Rabobank declined comment.

Sustaining momentum is China's challenge as the global slowdown looks likely to impact on its economic growth. By Pauline Loong.

Sustaining momentum is China's challenge as the global slowdown looks likely to impact on its economic growth. By Pauline Loong.

The heads of the big four banks in China tell Pauline Loong how they are planning to meet increased competition from global players after WTO accession.

The heads of the big four banks in China tell Pauline Loong how they are planning to meet increased competition from global players after WTO accession.

Soaring convertible bond issuance is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant Asian market. Volatility, dropping interest rates and retiring supply means we can expect more of the same in the coming year. By Chris Wright.

Citibank and Northern Trust emerged as leaders in this year's global custody poll. But customers still aren't getting everything they want from technology. By Olivia Chow and Robert Law.

Three takeover bids, between them involving Singapore's five largest banks, show that the long-awaited consolidation of Singapore's banking sector is finally underway – with a vengeance. It started in mid-June, when Singapore's third-largest bank, OCBC, made Keppel Capital, the smallest of Singapore's five major banks, a cash offer of S$3.38 per share and S$1.01 per outstanding warrant. That put the company's worth at $4.8 billion and represented 1.7 times its book value.

Despite the slowdown in the financial markets, Asia's financial sector has so far escaped the heavy layoffs and across-the-board cuts that have taken place in the US. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch have all slightly reduced Asian staff in the first half "but there hasn't been the level of firings that you would have expected", says one headhunter. Every job is being carefully scrutinized, however. Many firms have effective but (for the most part) unannounced hiring freezes, particularly the large American banks, which are facing pressures back home. And most investment banks in Asia have been quietly weeding out the bottom 5% – though at the same time adding staff in areas where they were previously weak.

The roller coaster career of Chatumongol Sonakul took a new twist on the morning of May 29 when the outspoken governor of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) was unceremoniously fired after refusing to bow to the wishes of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The last straw reportedly was Chatumongol's continued support for the BoT's low interest rate policy, which the government blames for causing capital outflows as well as weakness of the baht. Far from being the only reason, however, bankers claim that the fiery governor's stubborn resistance to outside interference and his refusal to embrace populist new government policies made his dismissal inevitable from the moment Thaksin took office in February. "Chatumongol and Thaksin are chalk and cheese," says one banker. "In the battle of wills, it was only a matter of time before Chatumongol was given his marching orders."

Citic Pacific launched a smart and opportunistic financing in late May when it raised US$450 million in 10-year bonds, increased twice from an initial target size of US$300 million. The issue caught the eye for a number of reasons, among them ownership and earnings questions and the lack of an obvious benchmark. This was the first fixed rate international corporate issue from a triple-B (specifically Baa2/BBB-) credit in Greater China since before the Asian economic downturn, making comparisons difficult: Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Land paper is priced much tighter, reflecting their higher ratings, while issues from Tenaga, Bank of East Asia, KDB and Kepco offer yardsticks but are not directly comparable. "There are lots of reference points, but no real benchmarks," says Bryan Pascoe, head of debt syndicate at HSBC, joint lead on the deal alongside Merrill Lynch.

For a country whose institutions and corporates hit the market sparingly, Thursday June 29 was an extraordinary day for Malaysia. The sovereign launched a US$750 million 10-year global, while YTL Power completed the first convertible from Malaysia for four years. Malaysia's bond, led by JPMorgan and Salomon Smith Barney, was being priced as Asiamoney went to press, with sources quoting price guidance of 235 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries. The deal, for the Baa2/BBB rated sovereign, was notable for the fact that it did not use a roadshow. "Malaysia has actually been about the most active Asian sovereign issuer in the bond markets over the last year or so," says someone close to the deal. "Most investors are already quite familiar with the story." Foregoing a roadshow also allowed the issue to move quickly and avoid any changes in the market, taking advantage of the 25 bps rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.