marketwatch NEWS (TT Apr09 p4-6)

The financial crisis has brought efforts to standardise the credit default swap (CDS) market to a head, after the launch last month by Intercontinental Exchange of a USbased clearing facility, according to analysis group Datamonitor. The launch has forced regulators on this side of the Atlantic to intervene in an effort to set up a European equivalent, as the industry has failed to agree a centralised platform.

The worldwide number of users of mobile banking and related services is forecast to grow from 20 million in 2008 to 913 million in 2014, according to a study.

Despite sustaining major losses on many of their investments, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) still registered an 18% increase in the value of assets under their management in 2008 to $3.9 trillion, according to a report from International Financial Services London (IFSL).