The pretence of knowledge is the curse of the financial world, especially when we live in such uncertain times. There are very few certainties left.

Small Asian firm has big European ambitions; expands into debt capital markets.

South Africa is plagued by slow growth and escalating debt levels. So how can the country’s new minister of finance, Nhlanhla Nene, get the economy moving again while balancing the budget?

A host of new technology and new business models are aiming to transform the financial system. Many will fall by the wayside. But among them are potential winners that could be the Goldman Sachs or Nasdaq of the 21st century. Euromoney looks at the smart people and smart firms attempting to reshape finance.

London is strutting its stuff as a world centre for fintech innovation to rival Silicon Valley and New York. The first-stage disruptors, challengers and innovators are now established and growing. Government and regulators want to build a better financial system and see technology as the key.

How did the relationship of the Swiss franc and the euro turn out to be purely platonic? Conscious uncoupling was perhaps inevitable.

Bond investors may need to travel down darker paths to cope with reduced secondary market liquidity.

How can Caesars Entertainment have an equity value of $2 billion while its bankrupt operating subsidiary owes creditors $18 billion?

Country risk survey monitoring political and economic stability of countries around the globe.

Rouble brews trouble for Russia

Markets ended 2014 beset by fear. Deflation is now a global concern and the doomsayers see rapidly falling commodity prices as the canary in the coalmine. But the nattering nabobs of negativism are wrong.

Want to see improvements to your town or city? Don’t just rely on municipal budgets. New crowdfunding sources are springing up. The disruptors even have municipal bond markets in their sights.

Crude oil prices dropped precipitously in the latter part of 2014, raising challenging questions about where they might go in 2015. Undershooting well below a mythical fundamental equilibrium price is a distinct possibility if history is any guide.

From the archives: What Bluford H Putnam and Lee Thomas said about the falling oil price in 1983.

A look at Qatar Foundation Endowment, QPI, Qatar Sports Investment, Qatar Luxury Group and Hassad Food.

Asset-hungry and cash rich, Qatar keeps grabbing the headlines. But there are questions over which branch of Qatar’s wealth actually owns its trophy assets, while it is becoming increasingly hard to fathom whether the authorities are coordinating these investments.

A war of all against all in currency markets will not be pretty. For some countries it may also be too little, too late. The International Monetary Fund has failed in its role as the arbiter of currency values.

Growing investor comfort in region; IFA culture developing.

The US looks to benefit from a changing energy landscape, at the expense of Russia and the Middle East, while Europe will be happier to be less reliant on those producers.

Investment is easy when you can immanentize the eschaton. But even radioactive assets such as uranium can be worth running a Geiger counter over.

The QIA has found itself on both sides of a property spat. But when in-fighting turns into a court case, only the lawyers will end up winning.

Often touted as having the region’s best growth prospects, the nation is struggling to make sure those hopes come true and aren’t dashed by poor foundations.

An ambitious infrastructure plan is central to the government’s plans to diversify the economy away from agriculture and increase its capacity to export.

Asset management company Cinda is a stark example of the implausible nature of China’s financial system. It has transformed its business model from an NPL warehouse to what some call a giant shadow bank. With more AMCs in the pipeline, analysts are beginning to question if China understands the risks it is piling up.

Euromoney Country Risk’s expert panel identifies corruption as the main political risk factor in most countries in the region, though overall economic risk has fallen since 2011.

As retail money accounts for an ever-larger percentage of leveraged finance, investors must not lose sight of what this asset class is all about.

Long seen as a proxy for Mexico, oil company Pemex faces new challenges after the implementation of President Peña Nieto's landmark energy reforms. If senior management can meet them, it could be the start of a long road to the eventual IPO of one of the world's most powerful energy firms.

Kenya’s largest mobile phone carriers will push ahead with the acquisition of yuMobile after Kenyan authorities removed a number of restrictive conditions on the deal.

Euromoney looks at the fine art of cross-border deal approval as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States gnashes its teeth.

Over-reliant on foreign investment to balance its books, Turkey is facing an investor retreat in the face of political instability. The long-term solution is a big expansion of domestic investment of untapped savings, but the instability is slowing this too.