strongFinancial News/strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscow br /08 December 2008 br /br /Increasing competition from new entrants and sharp falls in equity prices are driving down the margins of Russia’s sub-custody banks.br /br /The recent arrivals of Sweden’s SEB and France’s Société Générale, plus the increasing participation of Russian banks such as VTB and Gazprombank, are forcing fees downward but bringing greater segmentation and opportunities for niche providers.br /br /Natalia Sidorova, head of securities services at ING Wholesale Banking in Moscow, said: “Margins are decreasing, which is inevitable in a busy market like Russia driven by competition. Fees used to be about 20 basis points but have come down significantly in recent years.”br /br /Serhiy Berezhny, head of trust and securities services at Deutsche Bank, agreed but said high fees could still be charged depending on the volume of client assets. br /br /He said: “Different clients are ...

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) set a U.S. profit record today (Thursday) when it announced its third quarter profit topped $14.8 billion on record-high oil prices.

Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, earned $14.8 billion, or $2.86 per share, a 58% increase from the $9.41 billion, or $1.70 per share it earned in the third quarter of 2007. Exxon Mobil’s record-setting profit was enough to beat analyst expectations of $2.38 a share, according FactSet Research data.

Exxon Mobil beat its own record for the largest quarterly profit for a U.S. company, which it had previously set in the second quarter of 2008 with a gain of $11.68 billion.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (ADR: RDS.A, RDS.B) also announced third quarter earnings today, beating Bloomberg’s average analyst estimates. Europe’s largest oil company saw a 22% increase in profit to $8.45 billion from $6.9 billion in the same period the

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A $111bn backlog of bonds that need to be refinanced over the next year has built up in the emerging market economies and raised the threat of defaults and company closures. With the ability to raise money in the debt markets severely restricted because of the credit crisis, emerging market banks and companies could struggle to roll over the maturing debt, according to ING Wholesale Banking. David Spegel, global head of emerging markets strategy at ING, said: "Many corporates and banks in the emerging markets are highly levered without cash to fall back on. These will struggle should they need to raise money in the markets. "The bond and loan markets are much harder to access now, and it could get worse, which means there will be defaults." Of the $111bn in bonds that will mature between now and the end of ...