Edited by Steven Irvine

Competition in French banking is distorted by an outdated legal framework. French banks need to be downsized and made more profitable. Their returns on equity and cost/income ratios are deplorable. Strong statements. But those aren't Euromoney's views, they're the views of Marc Viénot, chairman of one of France's biggest banks, Société Générale. He spoke to Felix Salmon

Despite measures by some governments to curb expenditure, withdeflationary effects on economic growth, the health of Arab banks remains good.Banks from the Gulf Cooperation Council states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, continue to dominate the top 100 rankings. Martin Gallagher and Andrew Ioannou analyze the latest results.

Over the past year, Roberto De Ocampo has more than vindicated his award of 1995's Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year. He goes from strength to strength, as part of a team under President Fidel Ramos that has brought the Philippines from being the sick man of Asia to become one of its star performers.

Robert Rubin, secretary of the US treasury, has faced tough situations and made tough decisions. In a remarkably short time, he dealt with the Mexico crisis and put the dollar back on course, demonstrating a rare grasp of both domestic politics and global markets. By Katharine Morton

On his first day as treasurer of the World Bank ­ March 1 this year Gary Perlin was winding up a trip to China, the bank's biggest borrower. By contrast, the first overseas trip of his predecessor Jessica Einhorn (now promoted to managing director) was to Japan, the biggest investor in the bank's bonds.

Managing director and head of fixed-income trading and sales, West Merchant Bank Limited

Edson Mitchell's bold attempt to turn Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (DMG) into a world-beating bond house has made headlines in the past year. He has employed about 500 new staff -­ including many from his old firm, Merrill Lynch -­ in little more than 12 months. But until now Mitchell has shied away from talking publicly about his plans. Here, for the first time, he reveals what his aims are -­ and how he's going about achieving them. Mitchell spoke to Garry Evans

The world's big borrowers have found a new source of super-cheap funding. In the past year, a group of small, hitherto almost unheard of Japanese institutions ­ most famously the Teachers' Pension Fund ­ have bought as much as $100 billion of structured Euro-MTNs. So desperate are these investors for certain types of securities that a top-rated borrower can raise funds via a private placement in Japan for as little as Libor minus 60 basis points. Garry Evans explains how

The new dawn in South Africa is not an unmixed blessing for its banks. They now have to face foreign competitors muscling in on a sector they previously monopolized. But with their strong networks and increasing overseas resources, local banks are finding that alliances with foreign institutions can be mutually beneficial. Bruce Cameron reports