insto - Australian financial markets

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch is making positive noises about hiring in Australia as it battles to repair its battered reputation in the local employment market, says efinancial careers editor Simon Mortlock

Merrill has begun a recruitment drive in Asia Pacific because sentiment surrounding the bank has “turned a corner”, according Jayanti Bajpai, co-head of APAC global corporate and investment banking.

Och Maan - is that a mandate under your kilt or are you just pleased to see me? Often overlooked in the hype of "new Europe", Scotland remains a must-consider destination for Aussie fund managers looking for an overseas operations base.

Investment advisor Les Fallick has plenty to say about collecting artworks. He favours letting the heart rule the head and the wallet, writes Bernard Kellerman.

With the financial markets in turmoil, there's one elegant, well-performing long-term asset class that investors shouldn't omit from their portfolios, writes Alistair Bailey*.

Until now, the impact of spam - those unwanted, unsolicited nuisance e-mails - has been measured in time, money, and aggravation. It turns out there is a massive environmental impact as well.

It must have seemed a smart idea when Google paid US$1.65 billion for YouTube in 2006. But more than two years later, Google is losing as much as $1.65 million a day on the web's most popular video site, according to calculations and analysis from Internet Evolution's editor-in-chief Terry Sweeney.

The increasing amount of overlap and duplication of data, tasks and processes in their anti-fraud and anti-money laundering divisions is driving banks to seek synergies between compliance, risk management and security, reveals a new report by independent market analysis firm Datamonitor.

The delay in opening Australia's trading systems market to a global technology revolution is robbing traders and investors of world's best practice developments. Maggie Macrae reports.

One of the world's largest banks has been keeping a low profile in the Australian market. Nicholas Johnson, Barclays Capital's chief executive officer for Australia, outlined his plans for 2009 to Bernard Kellerman.

It might not be likely, but a zero cash rate is not outside the realms of possibility for Australia. UK and US official interest rates are now effectively zero thanks to quantitative easing measures. Could it happen here? asks Alexandra Cain.