A greater move towards international accounting standards is certain to result from the Enron furore. But already there are signs of regulatory one-upmanship. And bankers worry that the debate on the rights and wrongs of the Enron affair is quickly giving way to a turf battles and point-scoring between regulators and accounting bodies.

SPAIN

The US is in recession, or, at best, slowly coming out of it. As with all recessions, some things remain constant. First, company executives, bankers and investors generally don't want to admit there is a problem. They'll convince themselves that there's a new dynamic in the market that this time will make recession impossible, avoidable or at least short-lived. They'll hold off sacking people. They'll blame it on another sector of the market - in this case, they say, it started with the bursting of the tech bubble in April 2000 - and swear it won't affect them. And they'll refuse to take action to protect their companies, such as shoring up balance sheets, because they look back with nostalgia to the time when their stock prices were higher - two weeks ago, two months ago, six months ago...

Derivatives can be used to hedge risk, to speculate or, unacceptably, to cook the books. That those involved in the financial markets can simultaneously fear credit risk and the use of instruments to allay it suggests that they need to identify derivative users’ intentions more clearly.

Enronitis

Investment bank research has taken a further battering with Schroders, the asset manager, criticizing the role of analysts in the new economy bubble.

There is huge potential in business-method patents, and the financial sector in the US has begun to realize this. As in so many other areas of intellectual property, Europe is being needlessly left behind.

The imminent implementation of T+0 settlement for foreign exchange ought in theory to be an all-round blessing for market participants, reducing Herstatt risk. Some banks will, however, fall outside the system, raising the possibility of a two-tier market with differential spreads. Members will also incur new risks.

If people thought the out-of-court settlement between Unilever and Merrill Lynch had laid the whole affair to rest, they were wrong.

Canada’s secretary of state (international financial institutions)

The timing could not have been worse for Portugal's governing socialist party. A month ahead of the elections, when it is already lagging behind in the polls, the EU slaps it on the wrist over public spending, an issue central to both parties' campaigns.

It's one of finance's most elite clubs, though its members don't accept that it exists. It's made up of the handful of heavyweight economists who advise governments in emerging-market crises while holding down senior positions at the investment banks that lend money and arrange financing for these countries. But Argentina has exposed the limits of their power and raised questions about whose interests they're serving.

Carlos Rohm, vice-chairman of Banco General de Negocios (BGN), is facing charges of fraud in Argentina, based on evidence mainly supplied by his brother, Jose Rohm, the chairman of BGN.

Portuguese banks were the golden boys of European finance for years, reaping the rewards of a consumer lending boom. But Portugal has landed with a bump, with GDP growth no longer outstripping the rest of Europe. The banks are suffering, both in wholesale finance and in retail, where intense competition makes it difficult to turn a profit. Even market leader Banco Comercial Português is feeling the pinch. With opportunities for domestic mergers limited, it has expanded abroad, with mixed results.

When Forexster launched, it said it wouldn’t be just any new forex trading platform. It would revolutionize the market, taking banks out of forex trades and enabling clients to deal directly with each other. Banks and existing platforms scoffed at the idea, saying that while that model was attractive, the complex structure of credit lines involved would never work. Forexster begs to differ. Now it is filing for a patent to prove it. Still the banks think this is pie in the sky but if the patent works it could damage banks and rival platforms.