Want to buy a biggish local bank at a knock-down price? Join the queue of foreigners bidding for former state-owned banks in central Europe - but watch out for messy loan books and murky questions of ownership. Antony Currie reports on the restructuring of the region's banking systems and profiles three of the newly foreign-owned banks.

This is the game to beat all games. And it has a purpose: to give bankers and regulators experience of a financial crisis without the pain of losing their money - or their jobs. Euromoney (with PA Consulting Group and CSFI) set the conditions for a financial meltdown and invited 50 experienced professionals to come and play it out. The tension and the rivalry were real. Most agree they learned something about crises, and perhaps how to prepare better for the next one. By David Shirreff.

It's been the year of the emerging markets with many of Euromoney's 50 best deals of the year coming from key countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and Argentina. Our selection focuses on the important, interesting and innovative transactions from January to August. We have selected five for special mention and also highlighted some deals that were, frankly, dogs. By Robert Minto.

His combative approach - along with $70 billion reserves - has seen off all the currency speculators so far. But does Joseph Yam sleep easy at night?

The biggest contest in the 21st century will be to win in China. Whether it's IPOs, M&A or mutual funds, growth forecasts for China put all other markets in the shade. But the world's biggest potential market is also the toughest to crack. What's the right strategy? Steven Irvine looks at how the major investment banks are positioning themselves.

Much more private-sector activity from Brazil is expected on international capital markets as the privatization programme progresses. Unsecured bond issuance is only part of this expansion. And as hyperinflation becomes a distant memory, the domestic capital market is also growing rapidly. Michael Marray reports.

The 1997 Euromoney poll reveals some sharp differences of opinion between borrowers and bankers themselves about which are the best capital market intermediaries. But JP Morgan stays the overall favourite. By Rebecca Dobson.

Emerging market governments may be keen to attract foreign equity investment, but, as foreign investors in Russia are learning, the lack of legal protection threatens to stop such investment in its tracks. By Christopher Stoakes.

The development of the simple syndicated loan into a more liquid security advanced a stage further this summer with two groundbreaking financings which arranger Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) describes as bond/loan hybrids.

Rather than demonizing George Soros as the prime mover of the run on their currencies, Asian central bankers need to ask themselves hard questions. Why did the hedge funds go on the attack, and who provided the funding? Do they realize what banks are up to, have they decided which of these activities are legitimate, and are there any effective means of restraint? Laura Covill reports.

Some unusual rumblings have been heard from Singapore recently. In July the resignation was announced of Koh Beng Seng, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and reckoned to be the country's hard man of financial regulation. Then the prime minister persuaded him to withdraw his resignation and asked him to join a committee on banking deregulation. Behind the scenes, a furious debate is raging about the kind of financial centre Singapore should be.

Since Anatoly Chubais became finance minister, Russia's stock has risen dramatically. The architect of privatization is now pushing ahead with wide-ranging economic reforms, to the delight of the international community.

Richard Wood's agreeable daily commute consists of a stroll across Prague's Charles Bridge while he looks at the castle and swans and thinks about what he has to do that day. "It beats the tube," he says.

Asset privatized: Svyazinvest

Not all the central bank governors in Hong Kong this September for the IMF/World Bank annual meetings are staid middle-aged men in suits.

The Mexican financial scene has substantially changed since the 1994 crisis. Out of the dust of the crash broader and better organized capital markets have emerged. Debt restructuring has built up yield curves and bank asset sales are creating new instruments. Even the equity markets seem more buoyant. Jennifer Tierney reports.

Did Bankers Trust buy Alex Brown to make itself more attractive to a potential buyer? And should NationsBank buy First Chicago to give it more bargaining power in any future merger talks, possibly with BankAmerica? As America awaits its biggest-ever banking mergers, such are the advanced strategies under discussion. All will become clear after the final round of mega-mergers, reports Peter Lee.