As a financial centre, Los Angeles has always played second fiddle to more sober US cities but there may be one area in which it has an edge. The world's first porn investment bank is doing brisk business from its headquarters in Beverly Hills.

AdultVest, founded by Frank Koenig, a former New York hedge fund manager and Merrill Lynch staffer, describes itself as an “investment bank that concentrates its practice exclusively on adult industry investments, mergers and acquisitions”. Last week the group announced its latest acquisition, iPorn.com, and Koenig declared: “The public wants to invest in this industry, but there are not enough opportunities out there in the public market. Transparency and liquidity build credibility and investor confidence. I believe this is the formula to unlocking value in some of the adult industry's hidden gems. Wait till you see what we have in store.”

Mark Price, the managing director of Waitrose, has trademarked his Chubby Grocer nickname. According to Marketing magazine, Price was advised by lawyers to register the moniker after someone hijacked the name of his forthcoming book, The Great British Picnic Guide, and registered it as a domain. Price, who charts his weight loss campaign on his Not so Chubby blog, has registered the name for everything from kitchen electricals to olive oil. He claims he has no plans to launch any products under the brand, although if he does it could have broad application. He has also registered the name Chubby Gardener.

Spare a thought for Haroldo Lima. The president of the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency has had a bad week after casually mentioning to journalists that the Carioca oilfield, off Rio de Janeiro, may contain 33 billion barrels of oil, making it the world's largest discovery for 30 years. His remarks, based on unconfirmed studies, are now being examined both by federal investigators and the stock market regulator after they triggered a huge rally in the share price of oil firms Petrobras, BG Group and Repsol. Even the President waded in, describing the remarks as hasty and “improper”. But Lima is no stranger to setbacks. In the 1970s, the former communist was imprisoned and tortured by the military Government for his political beliefs. In 1979 he was released after three years in jail.

The Bank of England has found a replacement for Peter Rodgers when he retires as communications director in June. Jenny Scott, a presenter of Daily Politics on BBC Two, is returning to pastures old as she started out as an economist at the Bank in 1992 after graduating from Cambridge. She recently lost out to Stephanie Flanders for the job of BBC economics editor.

Turkmenistan, whose former President Niyazov banned video games and changed the Turkmen word for bread to the name of his mother, may not be a beacon of democracy but it has gas. A delegation is in Britain this week and BP is eager to do business in the country, which after Russia has the largest reserves in the former Soviet Union. Most of the country is covered by the Kara Kum desert and is populated only by camels.

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