Traditional institutional fund management no longer holds much appeal for Prudential. Earlier this year the UK insurer sold off its pension fund equity business - some £11.5 billion ($18.5 billion) of assets under management - because it was not turning enough profit.

As the huge conglomerates that have long dominated Germany's economy transform themselves into sleek, focused businesses, a procession of corporate assets has come to the market.

The economic boom of recent years has created a large class of wealthy individuals with money to spare. These high-net-worth individuals now form the most enticing target market for fund managers. Meanwhile the internet is democratizing financial services, in the process opening the markets up to a swathe of new private investors. The pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap supermarket philosophy which has already swept through the US is now set to engulf the rest of the world. What does this mean for the markets? Julian Marshall reports

We are not quite at the end of the current equity market correction. The next few months may be volatile or downright violent. But I'd start buying into any downturn in US and European stocks right now - particularly in traditional economy sectors where smart management can apply cyber-magic to the benefit of shareholders.

Financial talent is hard to come by these days, as any headhunter will confirm. And it can be even more difficult to keep. Case in point: Ricardo Hausmann, until recently the Inter-American Development Bank’s chief economist. Hausmann joins the Harvard faculty this month. But don’t expect him to be saying many good-byes. The international financial community seems bound to hear quite a bit more from this dynamic player. Hausmann shared some of his characteristic all-or-nothing views with Euromoney’s James Smalhout as he was packing his bags for Cambridge

Securitizing whole companies may be seen as the future of securitization in Europe, but so far only a few examples of this technique have taken place – and most of them have been in the UK pub industry. What is it about UK drinking dens that makes them so suitable for securitization?

In the heartland of Gotham and the Bay Area of San Francisco, dwarfed by the high-rise headquarters of those they seek to challenge, lurk a select few individuals waiting to strike. These men are behind the mutant companies seeking to change the dynamics of equity capital-raising forever. They are much smaller than their prey, but less weighed down by legacy systems. The time has come for the internet-based new issue houses to show what they can do, reports Antony Currie

After the BJP-led coalition came to power last year, prime minister Vajpayee set up a new department of disinvestment and placed a young, telegenic lawyer, Arun Jaitley in charge.

As bankers, policymakers and pundits packed their bags in readiness to travel to Prague for the IMF/World Bank conference, the Czech Republic's most (in)famous Financier was making no such arrangements. Viktor Kozeny, aka the pirate of Prague or the bouncing Czech, will be 5,000 miles away, sitting out proceedings in the comfort of his Bahamas home.

At some point the government plans to privatize the Hong Kong Airports Authority, and is expected to give it more attention once it has sold off the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC).

The increasing pace of developments in both the syndicated loan and the debt capital markets

A year is a long time in the capital markets and who better to demonstrate it than those consummate Financial politicians in Malaysia.

It has been a busy year for presidential and parliamentary elections - and coup attempts. Throw in worker unrest (Peru, Ecuador, Ghana), violent separatism in Indonesia and looming emerging market elections and it would be wise to expect big changes in Euromoney’s first Country Risk ranking in 2001. Keri Geiger reports

Driving through the imposing gates of Film City on the outskirts of Hyderabad is like stepping into another world.

Some emerging markets have found the route to salvation, others are a whisker from damnation. By Michael Peterson

Information technology is by far India’s most dynamic sector but its success comes despite rather than because of government initiative. The BJP government has sloughed off the Congress Party’s socialism but is desperately slow at implementing its objectives of privatizing and increasing foreign investment. There’s some hope, though, in the initiatives being taken by state governments. Kala Rao reports

Independent market regulation and a more relaxed approach to foreign investment are among new policies setting Arab states on the road to more dynamic markets. Not before time – accession to the World Trade Organization means the doors will have to open to foreign competition.

"Ever since foreign banks were able to open representative offices we were confident that the door would open wider and wider," says Samuel Lau, manager of HSBC's Beijing branch office. "But we never knew when or how far the door would open. [China's impending membership of] WTO establishes a Firm timetable which is important in terms of planning future resource allocation."

The great triumph of last year’s IMF/World Bank meeting was the unveiling of an agreement on debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries. But now that the promises are coming due, the international financial institutions are claiming poverty. This is special pleading - they have more than enough resources to cover the entire $45 billion multilateral share of the debt. The familiar cycle of debt and default will repeat itself, Adam Lerrick argues, unless the reform required of borrowing nations is matched by reform in the agencies themselves.

The European securitization market used to be characterized by small, esoteric deals rather than the large standardized issues dominant in the US. Things are changing, but not towards the US model. Strategic securitizations to finance M&A, synthetic structures and deals to cover non-performing loans are fuelling investment banks’ enthusiasm for the market. Michael Peterson reports

At the Golden Tiger (U Zlateho Tigra) in the back streets of old Prague on a Sunday in midsummer there are no tourists. The schoolroom benches along the back wall resound to the din of Czech voices, leaving no space for the casual visitor to squeeze in.

Protests against her austerity package and calls for her resignation have failed to stop Brigita Schmögnerovà from doing the most exciting job she has ever had. By Jonathan Brown

Having so far failed to set European investment management alight, Morgan Stanley's asset-management business is making a new push in the institutional market.

Forewarned is Forearmed: or How to survive in some of the riskiest business travel destinations in the world

Bankers and their regulators converging on Prague for the IMF/World Bank meetings this month should be nervous about the vulnerability of the world financial system to attack - not by aliens, hackers or international terrorists but by the shortcomings of thousands of interdependent institutions. Highly correlated and linked financial markets mean contagion can spread in seconds. Short of rebuilding national barriers, like electronic iron curtains, there's no way to isolate ourselves from contamination. The reforming countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are a weak link. They need more help and example from the west. Bringing in foreign strategic investors isn't a panacea, as the following pages show.

For a major Czech bank, Investicni a Postovni Banka was deeply untransparent. Bank analysts, auditors and central bankers tried in vain to map the labyrinth controlled by vice-chairman Libor Prochazka. They didn’t much like the bank or its emphatically non-strategic partner Nomura. So, when catastrophe hit IPB in June, the government stepped in heavily and maybe did the wrong thing, for the right reason – or vice versa. Was this the best way for an EU candidate to reform its financial sector? David Shirreff reports

If all goes as planned Komercni banka, the second largest Financial institution in the Czech Republic and the last state-owned bank, will Find itself in the hands of a strategic partner by the end of March 2001. As the privatization draws near, the Czech government appears to have learned from the mistakes it made during previous bank sales.

The policy team of new Mexican president Vicente Fox has thought of everything. An impressive set of reforms covering the central bank, capital markets, the fiscal deficit, the energy sector and judiciary are all laid out ready. But can they be got through congress and made to work free from interference and corruption? Mexico is facing one of the biggest make or break periods in its history, writes Andrea Mandel-Campbell

Brazilian soccer legend Pele turned up at the New York Stock Exchange on August 10 to close the First day's trading of Petrobrás, Brazil's leading oil producer and its largest company.

Troubles continue at Scottish Widows, whose chief executive, Orie Dudley, is leaving after publicly criticizing his bosses.