By netting more of their transactions internally, the world’s largest banks are transforming customer relationships and process capability into competitiveness and profits. They may take business from exchanges and clearers and it is possible that they are embarking on a course that could reshape Europe’s securities trading infrastructure.

Deal: Merger of technology platformsStructure: MTS buys 15% stake in CoredealResult: New corporate bond structure – CoredealMTS

Issuance is down in the medium-term note market. September's terrorist attacks have left the market nursing its wounds. Fears about liquidity and concerns about widening spreads have persuaded many issuers and investors to stay away.

Michael Dobson should have an interesting time turning around Schroders.

Parents' jobs have long been a source of playground rivalries but if your mum or dad worked for a private-equity firm it was never much to boast about. Until now.

Oyak, the armed forces pension fund, is one of Turkey's largest conglomerates and has joint ventures in multinationals such as Renault, Axa, Elf and Goodyear. But most people do not know of its military origins. Now, Oyak seeks to come into the open, emerging among the top five companies in Turkey.

Michael Dobson should have an interesting time turning around Schroders.

On September 11 in Indonesia, the eyes of the financial community were focused on the country's parliament. Several senior economic ministers, backed up by visiting officials from the IMF, were locked in a battle with politicians over the sale of a majority shareholding in the government-controlled Bank Central Asia.

It is all very un-Russian. Strong growth and a burgeoning trade surplus mean Russia is flush with money, money that would have been squandered in the past. But for once the government is thinking ahead.

Unilever is breaking new ground by taking its former fund manager, Mercury, to court in a bid to recover alleged lost earnings. The fund management world is closely watching events as the outcome of the case could have a profound effect on the way that the business operates in the future.

Akbank, emerging on top of Turkey's banking crisis, has embarked on a plan to professionalize its management. As it outgrows its family origins, Atbank prepares itself for a joint venture.

The US economic recovery will be delayed by the terrorist attacks of 11 September and anthrax scares. But in the wake of the US administration's massive monetary and fiscal policy boost since that tragic day, a V-shaped recovery in 2002 is now likely.

The first good news for Indian privatization this year came in early October. The government announced the sale of two small companies. A 51% stake in CMC, a software company, was sold to Tata Sons, which owns Tata Consultancy Services, India's biggest software exporter, for Rs1.5 billion ($31 million).