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Market report: Compiled by Frank Hracs

The Caribbean has provided the international bond markets with $1.3bn of paper over the past year, with Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados capitalising on their investment grade ratings, and Jamaica receiving a vote of confidence from investors despite its economic troubles. Jamaica will be looking to return to the external bond markets before long, but the recent strong supply from the region will remain an exception to the norm. Euan Hagger reports.

Spanish airline Iberia will next week launch a Eu490m securitisation to finance its acquisition of 17 narrow bodied Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The deal will be lead managed by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, with Crédit Lyonnais and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International as co-managers. Iberbond 2000 will be Iberia's second deal using the enhanced equipment trust certificate (EETC) structure, the leading financing tool for US airlines. Iberbond 1999, launched last August, was the first EETC in Europe, but no others have been launched despite the interest the deal aroused.

Finance company Orient Corp consolidated its position as the benchmark Japanese issuer in the international ABS market this week, with the launch of its sixth cross-border auto loan securitisation and third dual currency transaction. The deal confirms the rehabilitation of Japanese ABS in the minds of international investors and the reduction of the Japan premium to manageable levels.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia this week launched one of the largest ever Australian MBS to an enthusiastic reception from US and Australian investors. The deal offered a $1.1bn global tranche led by Merrill Lynch - its first bookrunning role on a cross-border Australian MBS - and A$427m of domestic bonds placed by CBA.

UK non-conforming mortgage lender Kensington Mortgage Co continued its drive to expand its investor base this week in a securitisation designed to tap demand in dollars and sterling across the maturity curve. Lead managed by Westdeutsche Landesbank, Residential Mortgage Securities 9 plc had a special strategic importance for Kensington.

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau has mandated Dresdner Bank and HypoVereinsbank to inaugurate its programme of securitisations of loans to Germany's Mittelstand companies. Dresdner and HVB will each securitise Eu1bn to Eu1.5bn of their own loans to small and medium sized corporates, made under the supervision of KfW and fellow government agency Deutsche Ausgleichsbank.

The Korean capital markets – which include the largest bond market in ex-Japan Asia - are showing renewed signs of life, with stronger price performance and new asset classes. But it's not great news for everyone, and analysts advise caution.

Kwik Kian Gie was the highest-ranking ethnic Chinese in the Indonesian government: an outspoken economic visionary who used his 10 months in office to wage war on the country's conglomerates. But his tenure as coordinating minister for the economy, during which he was criticized for being both ineffectual and loud-mouthed, is at an end. In Kwik's last interview before Gus Dur announced his reshuffled cabinet, he spoke candidly to Asiamoney about the successes of his office and the challenges ahead. By Chris Wright and Maggie Ford.

Kwik Kian Gie was the highest-ranking ethnic Chinese in the Indonesian government: an outspoken economic visionary who used his 10 months in office to wage war on the country's conglomerates. But his tenure as coordinating minister for the economy, during which he was criticized for being both ineffectual and loud-mouthed, is at an end. In Kwik's last interview before Gus Dur announced his reshuffled cabinet, he spoke candidly to Asiamoney about the successes of his office and the challenges ahead. By Chris Wright and Maggie Ford.