We sifted through the performance figures of foreign-country exchange-traded funds with significant assets that have been trading for at least 15 years.

FORBES: Foreign Stocks Look Like Junk, Step Up To American Quality

This portfolio can be used to embrace all manner of investments such as Bonds, Commodities, Equity, Foreign Exchange, Loans and Options plus less transparent assets such as Derivatives, Exchange Traded Funds, Film Box Office Sales Human Resources, Real Estate, Structured Products, Trade Marks, Patent and Marketing Rights.

FORBES: Innovation In Investment Vehicles

On the other hand, some of Bank Austria's returns have come from such volatile areas as investments in hedge funds and trading cash, foreign exchange and derivatives for the bank's own account.

ECONOMIST: Bank Austria and Hypovereinsbank: Running repairs | The

Among them: hedge funds, untraded securities, foreign-exchange contracts, precious-metal bullion, tax liens, natural-gas wells, private mortgages and other secured debt, movie partnerships, cattle, fishing rights and even investments in bull semen.

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State prosecutors are getting help from an organized group of whistle-blowers in a widening investigation into whether banks overcharged public pension funds by tens of millions of dollars for foreign-exchange transactions.

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It is telling that public funds did not initiate these litigations but were forced into them by foreign exchange whistleblowers.

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For its part, the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to demand adequate disclosure with respect to where foreign firms seeking to raise funds in the U.S. capital markets -- to say nothing of their parent companies, subsidiaries or affiliates -- do business in the world and with whom.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Countries with plenty of reserves, such as China or India, could allow mutual funds (domestic or foreign) to issue shares in domestic currency with which they could buy foreign exchange from the central bank.

ECONOMIST: Charting a different course | The