The fall-out from the Lehman default in 2008 should remind everybody that a negative feedback mechanism into other parts of the financial system and the real economy can create a negative-sum game for all parties involved.

According to Mandarine Gestion, current valuation levels in the banking sector constitute opportunities rarely seen over a medium-term horizon. However, over the short term, investors are preferring to focus on two factors while at the same time exaggerating in our view their consequences and therefore provoking excesses: sovereign debt and liquidity levels.

The results of QIS 5 confirmed that convertible bonds bear low capital cost. A balanced-profile convertible bond portfolio with optimized convexity therefore obtains a moderate intrinsic SCR whilst benefiting from «equity» exposure.

According to Jürgen Maier, fund manager in the team «Emerging Markets Equities» at Raiffeisen Capital Management, Emerging Markets have weathered the economic crisis and will remain competitive thanks to massive investments in infrastructure in the years to come and enormous demand for consumer goods

The real estate bubble was huge and now Spanish banks are in a mess. Two questions come to mind: why does this comes into the spotlight so late ? what is the exact size of the mess and what is the possible impact of a full stress scenario on financial markets ?