Bob Rubin could be the next president of the United States - and within a matter of months.

Almost no-one outside Japan has noticed, but an unprecedented wave of mergers in the financial sector is about to hit the headlines.

If you're still not ready for monetary union, Deutsche Bank might just have the answer.

If Arab states are to build industrialized trading economies on their oil wealth they will need internationally accessible capital markets trading a full range of financial instruments. Without these, Arab funds abroad - let alone foreign capital - are unlikely to flow in. Nigel Dudley reports.

Issuer: Gazprom

Hillboot Intergalactic PLC,

The pressures of qualifying for Emu are forcing governments to privatize faster than they might otherwise think prudent. There's a convergence of issues as well as a convergence of currencies. Is it all more than the market can bear? Catherine Garner reports.

Bankers like to wring their hands every time a competitor is forced to report a big loss caused by a rogue trader or poor controls.

With civil war and political manoeuvring giving way to economic reconstruction, Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing up to the need to attract foreign investment and trade finance. An innovative World Bank political risks guarantee facility announced in March should prove a useful element in this process.

Issuer: Republic of Ecuador

Officials from Brazil's national treasury are travelling nationwide singing the praises of federal domestic debt to pension fund managers. Later roadshows will sell the same story to insurance companies. They are stressing increased transparency, lower risk, higher earnings potential and a longer yield curve.

Two new European-currency corporate high-yield bonds appeared last month, opening what could soon become a thriving sector of the international bond markets. The welcome which supposedly credit-risk-averse European bond investors gave to the two deals was quite spectacular.

Banks are constantly exploring new and cheaper ways of raising and using capital. After Tier 1 (shareholders' funds) and Tier 2 (debt capital) comes Tier 3 to support short-term trading positions. But only the adventurous Dutch have put Tier 3 to use. There seems to be more mileage in clever structures such as callable perpetuals. Jules Stewart reports.

Issuer: Household International

Yet another trading scandal came very close to rocking a major financial institution in the City of London recently. This time it was Bankers Trust which had a nasty shock when it discovered that blatant rogue trading was going on in its midst. The perpetrators this time were children from a London secondary school attending a Bankers Trust maths weekend at the University of Warwick.

A change in the way US treasuries can be settled promises to inject liquidity into repo markets denominated in illiquid currencies or in markets that lack repo. It also has ramifications for the holding of US treasuries as reserve assets. By Christopher Stoakes

Investment in private equity markets in eastern Europe is hard work, but enthusiasts reckon it's worth the effort. "In private equity we're sweating a lot trying to turn a profit, and then we look next door and see those guys making a lot of money buying and selling in the public markets," says Philippe Belot, a senior banker at the EBRD. But "we'll be better off in the longer term. We're betting on an upturn in these economies."

The development of Chile's domestic securitization market is gathering pace, with half a dozen transactions in the pipeline following the groundbreaking deal launched in January by Transa Securitizadora. As Euromoney went to press, Transa was about to launch a second offering, consisting of $9.7 million of notes backed by mortgage loans.

"It's turned out to be what we think is a perfect balance of our cultures and backgrounds - both China and Scotland," says Ian Wilson, Standard Chartered's general manager for Hong Kong, China and north-east Asia.

When Australia's corporate bond market looked like taking off twice before, it soon fell flat on its face. Things are different this time, bankers argue. Government borrowing is being cut back and pension funds have increasing amounts to invest. So spreads are narrowing and smaller corporates at least are taking the hint. The blue chips still need some persuading. Albert Smith reports.

The niceties of custody hardly apply in emerging markets. Clients care more about settling on time than they do about sophisticated services. Banks concentrate on the basics and the breakdown of the market into customer groups is a long way off. James Featherstone reports on the latest developments in Latin America.

Revolutionary changes are afoot in South Korea. Spurred on by recent scandals, it is poised to scrap state control of the economy and introduce a true free market. But foreigners still find it tough. Maggie Ford reports.

JP Morgan won plaudits for altruism when it donated RiskMetrics, a market volatility matrix, to the financial world in 1994. RiskMetrics also proved a superb way of marketing the Morgan name. Now JPM is at it again with a release of CreditMetrics for global consumption.

Wall Street is competing with an 800-pound gorilla. That's the label attached to Chase as it wrestles investment banking mandates from traditional players. Even by US standards Chase is noted for being aggressive. And its great strength is the lending capability that helps it win both bond and M&A deals. Will it eventually be king? By Michelle Celarier.

Yann Gindre became an instant celebrity last summer - but not for reasons entirely of his own choosing. When most high-rolling Euromarketeers were lying on tropical beaches or on their private yachts, Gindre became the centre of a tug-of-war, as senior executives at BZW in London jockeyed for position following the arrival of Robert Diamond from Credit Suisse First Boston as BZW's new fixed-income supremo.

The world is all perversity. The worst that could happen to investors is stronger global growth, producing weak financial markets. That will happen if Japan picks up this year at the same time as core Europe, and there is a continued boom in the US.

News of a planned merger between Bankers Trust and broker Alex Brown came in a rush. In fact, though, the firms had long recognized their complementarities and had first started talking about a link-up in 1993. Peter Lee reports.

Are banks facing a rough ride on the information superhighway?

Even in the age-conscious Euromarket where the best and the brightest, like policemen, seem to get younger, Bill Winters is a classic example of a fast-track career. Still only 35, he runs all of JP Morgan's fixed-income activities in Europe. Given Morgan's surge in primary underwriting and inherent strengths in swaps and derivatives, this makes him one of the most important individuals in the Euromarket. "Bill Winters' position is not dissimilar to Jimmy Forese at Salomon Brothers in London but Bill carries the Morgan calling card which gives him a definite advantage," comments a former Salomon managing director.