Two months after the rift between the two siblings who control the $22.6 billion Reliance group became public in mid-November, the estranged brothers have not reached a settlement, fuelling speculation about an ownership split of one of India's biggest business empires.

According to the latest research from Lehman Brothers “the life insurance industry appears to be vying with the Pentagon to see who can turn out more acronyms”.

Foreign companies are concerned about a requirement that they register with the SEC if they have more than 300 individual US shareholders. Buying back shares might not be the answer.

Ever since George W Bush was first elected president in 2000, one of Washington's favourite guessing games has been who will be the next president of the World Bank. For the past five years, the correct answer has been ?James Wolfensohn?, the man now in his tenth year at the helm who would dearly have loved to see a fifteenth there as well.

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With private banking contributing anything up to 20% of global bank profits, capturing market share through mergers and acquisitions is a preoccupation of wealth managers.

Islamic finance has made striking advances in the past year in its prime market of Muslim individuals, sovereigns and institutions, and among non-Muslim issuers and consumers attracted to Shariah-compliant products.