Davos, Sovereign Debt Risk & More Regulation for Hedge Funds?

As the US floats plans for a two-part bank bailout, there is lots of risk and regulatory news to pass along today as we close out the month of January...At the NY Times, DealBook is doing its usual excellent job with its coverage of the World Economic Forum. It has frequent dispatches and video reports from the WEF with its Davos Diary . Check it out…Along those lines, an article about world leaders like Ernesto Zedillo wondering how the US is going to pay for all those stimulus dollars ($819 billion and counting)….Also in the NYT, Floyd Norris wonders in his High & Low Finance column if decoupling of world economies is on the horizon. While most of the world economies are currently experiencing the downside of globalization, not all global economies are created equal. While the US debates details of how to spend a trillion dollars, smaller economies find themselves caught in the credit squeeze...Signs of a pullback in European cross-border banking? NYT's Carter Dougherty says it would make sense given the government dollars that are being invested to keep banks afloat. Expect huge pressure on bailed out banks to refocus on their home markets and use those balance sheets for domestic lending….Is there another troubling credit bubble brewing? The Wall Street Journal has an Op-Ed piece from German economist Ulrich Volz warning of increased Sovereign Debt Risk this year. S&P has already downgraded Spain, Portugal and Greece due to deteriorating public finances and the rollover of government debt has been severely disrupted by the seizing of the international capital markets. The repricing of risk and the shortage of liquidity in international capital markets has made it increasingly difficult for even well-managed emerging markets to access external financing….And finally, yesterday we reported that the House of Representatives was pushing a plan to regulate the CDS market, today we note that the Senate has taken up a bid to intensify regulation of hedge funds. Senators Levin (D-MI) and Grassley (R-IA) introduced proposals to regulate hedge funds just as the Obama administration is preparing a broader legislative overhaul of the regulatory system...What does this mean for risk and compliance professionals? A new regulatory regime can only mean more career opportunities and higher profiles for risk and compliance pros. Bookmark GlobalRiskJobs on your browser of choice and check in frequently. Enjoy the weekend!