In a country which had become utterly disillusioned by its politicians’ failure to revive the economy, Japan’s new prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has quickly won huge popularity with calls for radical reform. Japan certainly needs this. And Koizumi intends to start at the key point, with the country’s ailing banks. But the consequences of reform will certainly be painful. If slowing growth and rising unemployment erode his popularity, the old political inertia may stifle Koizumi’s efforts yet.

In March 2000, following Syria’s first major cabinet reshuffle for more than a decade, Mohamed Mustafa Mero was appointed as prime minister, replacing Mahmoud Zuabi, who had held the post since 1987. Previously the governor of Aleppo, Mero is widely recognized as being fully committed to economic reform in Syria. Last month in Damascus, he spoke to Euromoney about the outlook for the reform process

The controversy surrounding the resignation of Tamara Adler, Deutsche Bank's well-respected former head of European asset-backed securities, has obscured another bizarre facet of the bank's reorganization following the death in December of global markets head Edson Mitchell.