The Bank of China aims to be a major international player by the year 2010. But it faces many challenges, not least of which is the transformation of a large proportion of its international profit - from Hong Kong - into domestic profit in less than 500 days. Sophie Roell reports on the bank's efforts to expand its areas of expertise, introduce tighter controls and achieve real independence.

Chairman John Reed's successor could be any one of half a dozen managers running the new streamlined Citicorp - Reed is giving nothing away about his favoured choice. But this group is fast changing the culture of the "largest small bank in the world" as it retools its approach to branded products and global coverage. Peter Lee reports.

...and sensible Germans

Hans-Peter Bauer: head of global fixed income and derivatives, UBS, London. Tinny Hasendonckx: head of Euromarket trading- Kredietbank Brussels. Thomas Keller: head of asset/liability management-L-Bank, Germany.

Indonesia's banking sector is currently in a state of flux. Deregulated in 1988, it expanded beyond expectation, but is now set to consolidate. Tighter regulation, tough economic measures, bad loans and lower bank lending are forcing private banks, in particular, to be more entrepreneurial. By James Sinclair.

Jean-Claude Komarovsky, to get Black Knight's major shareholder off his back, goes to the fountainhead of retail distribution - Mrs Watanabe's playschool in deepest Japan.

Issuer: GPA Amount: $4.05 billion Launched: March 11 Lead manager: Morgan Stanley