Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is convinced she can diversify the economy. But fears are growing that the end of the commodities super-cycle will imperil the growth model.

The new head of the International Finance Corporation, Jin-Yong Cai, tells Euromoney about the need for the World Bank’s private-sector arm to take more risks and be more activist in developing policy ideas in such areas as infrastructure development and poverty reduction.

Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, tells Euromoney why no bank is too big to fail and why Texas has much to teach the rest of the US economy

Japanese newspapers often refer to Koichi Hamada as “the brains behind Abenomics”. During a recent visit to Tokyo, the 77-year-old special adviser to Abe spoke frankly to Euromoney not only about Abenomics, but also the character and nationalism of Japan’s prime minister.

In an exclusive interview, Benoît Coeuré, member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, discusses the challenges that Europe faces in stimulating financing to small and medium-sized enterprises, including the creation of a truly pan-European and cross-border capital market in the region and how securitization can be used to re-establish funding to these firms.

Finance minister Nizar Baraka says he can – and must – bring down Morocco’s gaping fiscal deficit. But after a debut dollar bond in December, how much can he change the country’s financial model in the midst of pan-Arab revolt?

Finance minister Rimantas Sadzius reveals Lithuania’s 2015 euro adoption plan, touts the benefits of convergence and strikes a bullish – and contrarian – tone on eurozone policymaking.

High-profile Malaysian CEO Tony Fernandes is intent on furthering his companies’ pan-Asian expansion, notably through AirAsia. He sees such international activities as The Apprentice Asia and ownership of Queens Park Rangers FC as useful publicity for his business ventures.

With Latvia set to join the eurozone in 2014, and Moody's upgrading its bond rating this week, finance minister Andris Vilks is confident of the benefits to the country in joining the single currency – and aware of the efforts needed to convince a sceptical population.

In an interview in his office in Riyadh, Suliman Azzabin, chief executive of Al Rajhi Bank, pours scorn on allegations that link his bank to terrorist financing repeated in the US Senate report on HSBC last year. So what is Al Rajhi Bank in 2013 really, and how is it still making so much money?

All banks must be Basle III-proof; Regulatory avalanche stifling business

Can Credit Suisse’s newly promoted CEO of Brazil, José Olympio Pereira, maintain his own and his bank’s high standing in equity capital markets? Euromoney interviews Olympio to find out.

Regulators have regained their reformist muscle in the shape of Mark Carney, Bank of Canada governor and chairman of the Financial Stability Board. In a wide-ranging interview, Carney talks about recent banking scandals, the Volcker Rule, and why fears about Basle III are wide of the mark.

Basle III proposals would hurt Danish banks; Denmark wants equal treatment in bank union

Ivan Ritossa, who recently announced he is leaving Barclays after 10 years, has been one of the most influential figures in foreign exchange during the past decade. Hamish Risk profiles the man and charts the extraordinary rise of Barclays as a leading FX player.

The Philippines’ secretary of finance, Cesar Purisima, has a reputation for probity that has reached street level. And he is determined to rapidly advance economic growth through the encouragement of entrepreneurship, the development of capital markets and increased regional integration.

Andreas Ittner, executive director, Austrian Nationalbank (OeNB), discusses the challenges of regulating banks with diverse emerging European portfolios.

With Juan Carlos Echeverry’s August departure, Latin America has lost one of its most effective finance ministers. And certainly its most combative. Just days before the news broke that he had lost his job, Euromoney met him in Bogotá to hear his uncompromising views on sustaining Colombia’s recent growth. The only unanswered question: did he know what was to come?

In an exclusive interview, Arunma Oteh says her temporary suspension earlier this year as head of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission was just the latest in a series of attempts to unseat her. But she says she and her allies are winning the battle to stop market abuses and change Nigeria.

For 20 years, Charles Dallara worked the corridors of power in the financial community as managing director of the IIF. Then Lehman Brothers and the Greek crisis brought his role into the glare of publicity. As Dallara prepares to step aside, he considers the changes that have taken place in the banking industry, and the role the IIF has to play in its future.

Andreas Ittner, executive director at the Austrian Nationalbank (OeNB), talks to Euromoney about why Austrian banks are not deleveraging from the “extended home market”, how they are still on track for Basel III, and what sets the OeNB apart from its peers.

China's army of small and medium sized enterprises struggle to access mainstream bank funding, forcing many of them to turn to the country's booming shadow banking system. In an exclusive interview with Euromoney, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, one of China's largest commercial banks, discusses the funding challenges SMEs face and how it is helping the sector access the funding it needs to flourish.

Standard Chartered’s senior bankers admit there is something old fashioned about the way the bank does business. Even its CEO, Peter Sands, is a throwback – a banker mostly lauded rather than criticized for his performance. StanChart has consistently delivered a level of income and profit growth most of its peers can only dream of. Is its traditional approach a model for modern banking?

The country’s banking system had a bad crisis. Cheap funding, overcapacity and poor business models led too many banks to buy rogue assets. But as it returns to health, is there now a shortage of capital to fund needed consolidation?

Two years ago, Deutsche Bank beat a host of rival suitors to secure the services of China rainmaker Henry Cai. His task: to make the bank punch harder in the lucrative Asian equities business. Progress has been made, but does Deutsche have what it takes to reach the summit in Asia?

Former ECB executive board member strikes a hawkish note in a wide-ranging interview on the fiscal and monetary policy tools left to save the eurozone.

Poland's debt-management official waxes lyrical in an interview with Euromoney about how the country is riding out the eurozone storm, and the sovereign's debt issuance plans

Saudi Arabia’s new economy minister, the former central bank governor Mohammed Al Jasser, says rapid change is under way in his country. But is the reformist energy sparked by the Arab Spring already flagging?

Andreas Dombret, one of six members of the Bundesbank’s executive board, has reinforced the perception that the so-called shadow banking system is at the forefront of European regulators’ concerns in an interview with Euromoney.

In an exclusive interview with Euromoney, a member of the Bundesbank executive board says shadow banking is the greatest concern to regulators, who still do not fully understand its impact on the financial system