GFMA:

South Korean firms might keep up record level of bond sales
Demand from Japanese investors might allow South Korean companies to keep up their record pace of bond sales, said KB Investment & Securities. "Overseas demand, especially from the Japanese, will be the fresh buying force that keeps the market growing," said Park Sung Won, deputy head of corporate finance at KB. "With the strong yen, almost zero interest rates in Japan and risks for European and US debt, Japanese investors will turn to Korean corporate bonds for relatively high yields with reasonable risk." Bloomberg(16 Nov.)

BlackRock's Fink scrutinises synthetic ETFs
BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink ramped up his criticism of synthetic exchange-traded funds offered by Societe Generale's Lyxor Asset Management, Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions. Fink said the ETFs include counterparty risk and increased complexity that might not be known to investors. "If you buy a Lyxor product, you're an unsecured creditor of SocGen," Fink said. Providers of synthetic ETFs should "tell the investor what they actually are. You're getting a swap. You're counterparty to the issuer". Bloomberg(16 Nov.)

• Other News

Ermotti reveals fresh rogue-trading incident at UBS
Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (16 Nov.)

Traders face challenges as Europe's debt crisis continues
Reuters (16 Nov.)

Regulatory Roundup

Regulatory team will enforce Basel III globally, Ingves says
Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, said a team of regulators will enforce Basel III capital and liquidity rules worldwide. Financial Times(tiered subscription model)(16 Nov.)

EU plans to offer toolbox to handle crises, Barnier says
Michel Barnier, the EU's internal-market commissioner, said officials are working on measures to deal with crises in the banking sector. "On the question of [bank] resolution and crisis management, what we want is a toolkit of crisis management. ... I hope to publish these proposals in the coming weeks," Barnier said. "The idea is to ensure that authorities have the power to intervene as early as possible and [a problem] does not develop into a catastrophe." Reuters(16 Nov.)

EBA reportedly presses banks about sovereign-debt holdings
The European Banking Authority requested more details from dozens of leading banks about their sovereign-debt holdings, sources said. The watchdog wants to determine how well the lenders would survive further bond-market turmoil. The data are meant to help regulators determine how much fresh capital is needed by the banks. Reuters(16 Nov.)

ESMA publishes rules fleshing out AIFM directive
The European Securities and Markets Authority unveiled rules meant to better protect customer assets. The rules, which stem from the Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, would make depositaries more liable for clients' funds. "MF Global [Holdings] has brought all this into focus," said Jonathan Herbst, a financial-services partner at Norton Rose. "It's going to increase custodian liability, as today they have negotiated themselves out of a lot of these liabilities." Reuters(16 Nov.), Financial Times (tiered subscription model)(16 Nov.)