Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada recently summed up the prospects for many of the non-G7 economies in a piece of research entitled Running out of bullets.

Bain Capital has reportedly proposed waiving the 2% management fee on several of its private equity funds.

The new US Treasury secretary took just three weeks to disappoint those hoping he could find a way to save the US banking system and give a lead to the rest of the world. He has put off creating a bad bank to purge the system’s toxic assets but its day will surely come. There are bad banks aplenty now and when they inevitably collapse, taxpayers will pick up the mess. Peter Lee reports.

Hedge fund activists are finding it harder to spot opportunities.

Robert Bell and Robert Palache have formed Bell Capital Partners – a boutique advisory firm that will provided specialized financing advice in the real estate sector.

Eighteen months ago, the chief executives of major financial firms were revered. We envied their elevated status – the jets, the bodyguards, the limousines and the layers of gatekeepers. Now these men are reduced to squirming schoolchildren who’ve been caught stealing from the communal cookie jar.

The impact of the credit crunch spread across the world over the past 12 months. Eastern Europe was badly hit, and the Middle East and Asia could no longer claim to be immune.

Thailand’s new finance minister is doing everything he can to get the country’s fundamentally sound banks lending again. He must also cope with political instability. Will Korn Chatikavanij be able to see the job through? asks Eric Ellis.

The role of treasurer must be confined to prudent funding, investment and risk management, not making a profit.

If you are going to throw money at a problem, throw it at the right problem.

What good is abundant liquidity unless it flows into the wider economy?

Global firms are once again rolling back their commitment to Asia. Will they never learn?

UAE loan buys time and gives options – but which to take?

BNDES spending can only prop up the economy for so long.

A risk manager at a large European bank now being propped up by its government after losing billions explains how the bank’s executives used to think about regulation. One question, he recalls, used to dominate its dealmakers’ meetings with the bank’s own legal counsel: “Can we get away with this?” No one ever asked: “Should we be doing this?”

Regulators see a chance to hammer hedge funds and are determined to take it.

Emerging Europe needs a coordinated bank bailout – and fast.