Brazil, not content with its reputation for beautiful people and awesome football players, is making the world feel inadequate in other areas. VisaNet, the Brazilian affiliate of Visa, is raising $4.3bn in the world's largest initial public offering this year. VisaNet's warm reception was underpinned by low credit penetration and relatively rosy forecasts for Brazil's economy. But that the year's two largest IPOs are in S?o Paulo and Hong Kong, knocking the US from its customary top spot for offerings, has reinvigorated chatter about a “decoupling” of emerging markets from their developed counterparts.

A little perspective is required here. True, equity capital market issuance in the US and Europe has been dominated by banks seeking to plug balance sheet holes rather than fund growth. But that is one sign of those markets' maturity. Companies in developing nations still struggle to bolster balance sheets by raising equity. Banks remain reluctant to underwrite secondary deals given high volatility. Private equity groups waiting to clear lofty return hurdles may be delaying new issues in Europe and the US. And emerging market IPO volumes so far this year remain barely 6 per cent of 2007's total, according to Dealogic, even excluding the bubble-icious listings in China's domestic currency market.

There is, however, an air of confidence at Brazil's BM&F Bovespa exchange, which has overtaken the likes of NYSE Euronext in terms of market capitalisation. It is modernising apace, opening more international offices and is supported by a solid domestic asset management industry. Companies that in the 1990s rushed to secure US attention through listings of American Depositary Receipts are now deterred by the costs and hassle involved. New York used to worry about losing listings to London. As global investors become accustomed to trading through domestic exchanges, the danger for both is that emerging markets issuers prefer staying close to home.