People & places: Fortis’s Paul Schuilwerve moves east
Paul Schuilwerve, Fortis Bank’s highly respected Managing Director and Global Head Commodities, has been promoted to Head of Merchant Banking, Asia/Pacific.

People & places: Credit crunch spreading to Asia
Countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and other emerging markets will be affected by the credit crunch and the resulting slowdown in growth, according to Global Insight’s latest Sovereign Credit Ratings Review.

People & places: Oil prices to breach $200 in ‘supply crunch’
Oil prices may currently be edging down from record highs of $147 per barrel, but think-tank Chatham House – the Royal Institute of International Affairs – is warning of an impending ‘oil supply crunch’ that will cause prices to spike higher.

In brief: People moves
DBS Bank’s Pranam Wahi recalled to Singapore... Hideyuki Nagahiro moves from BTMU... Carl Adams moves up at Banco Espirito Santo... Plutarchos Sakellaris named new EIB vice president.

Deal news: TransCreditBank scoops $185m for foreign trade
TransCreditBank, the commercial bank belonging to state-owned Russian Railways, has signed an 18-month, $185m senior unsecured bullet-term loan intended to finance the foreign trade of the Bank’s customers.

Deal news: HSBC backs solar-powered irrigation in Sri Lanka
HSBC has finalised an innovative $16m deal with the Sri Lankan government to finance the provision of 5,000 solar-powered drop irrigation systems.

Deal news: Calyon and RBS lead Gazprom syndication
Russian energy giant Gazprom has returned to the syndicated loan market with a $500m package put together by mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Calyon and Royal Bank of Scotland.