Banks in central and eastern Europe are still posting results that laugh in the face of the credit crisis. But bad – or at least worse – times might be just around the corner for some. Charles Piggott reports.

Commercial banks eager to exploit the opportunities in a rising sub-Saharan Africa might have to pay a high price for first-mover advantage. In this most local of retail banking markets, home-grown firms have developed the most effective, innovative approaches. As Dominic O’Neill finds out while bouncing along dirt roads in Kenya and Mozambique, international firms need to follow the locals’ examples, or discard their most basic ideas of what a bank can do.

Lebanon’s banks are slowly moving away from their traditional reliance on sovereign debt – but not because they lack faith in their own country. Alex Warren reports from Beirut.

Australia’s new finance minister still has to convince his fellow citizens that he can keep the economy on an even keel.

The vice governor for international affairs says financial sanctions will not halt the country's growth, as president Ahmadinejad tells the UN the US's years of domination are over.

Today’s long-term rise in agricultural commodity prices is different from previous episodic spikes. Higher prices are having knock-on effects on companies in the sector, as well as on farmers and the poor, and causing a re-evaluation of business models. Peter Koh reports.

Banks are booming in Nigeria on the back of oil revenue inflows. But solutions to some of the country’s problems – particularly the need for infrastructure development and a reversal of falls in oil production – remain stymied by an inflexible political system. Rupert Wright reports.

VTB’s ambition is to be a leading universal bank in Russia, with a strong balance of revenues from its retail, corporate and banking arms. But does it have the wherewithal to achieve those lofty goals? Guy Norton reports from Moscow.

Bank chiefs in the region have much to cheer but can’t help feeling a little uneasy. They have no direct exposure to the sub-prime fallout, but have had to rethink their funding strategies. And while they see clear opportunities to grow, an economic slowdown could be looming.

Euromoney asked eight leading chief executives what impact the credit crunch has had on their banks and what they think are the problems and advantages of being a local bank in a time of global crisis.

Australian hedge fund Basis Capital is to pay $23 million to investors in two of its funds. The investors put their money into the funds in June 2007, the month investments were frozen because of liquidity problems. Because the money had technically not been invested until September, the investors were able to claim a full refund. Other investors in the struggling funds now being advised by Blackstone will suffer losses.

A study by quant fund AQR says hedge fund replicators are not necessarily what investors want. The new indices launched by banks such as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch are too highly correlated to other asset classes within an investor’s portfolio to add much value, says the study. Furthermore, their inability to capture tactical shifts in hedge fund exposures because of lack of public information means that replications might not keep up with hedge fund moves.

Mohammed Al-Hussein, Syria’s minister of finance, talks to Sudip Roy about the effects of oil price rises and declining domestic production, the development of the country’s banking sector, and efforts at budgetary control and the development of a T-bill market.

The Middle East's most successful banks remain on a determined course for growth, both regionally and in terms of the products they offer. Will the boom in financial markets and services continue, despite political uncertainty and the contagion of the credit crunch?

Palestine is a surprisingly attractive prospect – good enough to hold the attention of private and public investors at a conference this year. But Gaza, which must develop pari passu with the West Bank if the Territories are to prosper, is an unstable imponderable. Chris Wright reports.

Moscow private equity firm Mint Capital has taken a stake in beer restaurant chain Tinkoff Restaurants.

Before the September crisis, many banks were looking to sell non-core assets to raise capital. Now, safety in size means mergers are the order of the day. But when the market settles, will investors demand that banks concentrate on what they are good at to maximise returns?

Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Company and Brazil’s Bradesco Asset Management have agreed to set up a mutual fund that will invest in Brazilian bonds.

Hedge fund administrator Fulcrum, has merged with the hedge fund services arm of Butterfield Bank, an award-winning Bermudian bank.

Mexico’s capital markets have held up better following the US sub-prime crisis than experts expected, highlighted by recent issuances of record-size residential mortgage-backed securities.

Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, has announced plans to nationalize the Bank of Venezuela, the largest bank in the country. Chavez has asked for a meeting with Spanish group Santander, which owns the bank, in order to agree a price.

Gulf firms raised a record $15.76 billion in rights issues from July 2007 to June 2008, a 242% increase on the previous 12 months. In the first six months of 2008, rights issues in the Gulf Cooperation Council states raised $11.9 billion from shareholders, according to research from UK law firm Trowers & Hamlins.

The greenback revival, driven by ECB recognition that the eurozone is faltering, will be sustained by the narrowing of the US current account deficit, the fall in the oil price and the US pursuit of a soft monetary policy.

Poland continues to be a leading source of private equity business in emerging Europe, with recent transactions demonstrating the country’s attraction from both a retailing and manufacturing perspective.

Barely a day goes by without a new craze for so-called frontier markets in Africa being mentioned somewhere. But are the returns worth the fuss?

Alessandro Profumo has built his banking group through acquisitions, cementing his reputation as a brilliant dealmaker. The challenge facing UniCredit’s CEO is to get the most out of his empire. At the heart of the group’s strategy is aggressive organic growth in emerging Europe. Sudip Roy reports.

One of the puzzles of Islamic finance is how Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been so utterly left behind in its development. Nearby Malaysia has evolved the most sophisticated regulatory environment for Islamic finance anywhere in the world and, after building an admirable domestic base, has now opened its doors to foreign entrants. Several Gulf states, notably Bahrain, have built centres of excellence around Shariah-compliant finance; and even less-developed nations such as Pakistan are making up for a slow start and witnessing a boom in this growing area.

Standard Chartered has promoted Todd McDonald to the new role of global head of FX electronic pricing and trading. McDonald, who was previously the bank’s FX trading head, Americas, will now be based in Singapore. As a result of his move, Keith Underwood, currently head of FX trading, UK and Europe, will relocate to New York.

Weak infrastructure is probably the single biggest obstacle to emerging nations fulfilling their potential. Infrastructure shortcomings in Latin America and Asia are well documented but even in the Middle East, a region flush with petrodollars, more investment is required, especially from the private sector.

Japan’s agencies have long been dependable if staid issuers, with their government backing and tendency towards regular benchmark issuance providing a steady source of bonds yielding 15 to 20 basis points more than Japanese treasuries. Now they face change: in a series of reforms aimed at reducing government involvement in public finance, Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) is to be privatized and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is merging with a group of other government finance institutions to form a new firm called Japan Finance Corp. Their paths will diverge dramatically: JBIC will continue to enjoy government backing and is thinking only of tinkering with its borrowing routines by offering more benchmarks. DBJ is striking out on its own as an investment bank, and aiming rather high if management are to be believed. DBJ, a regular benchmark yen issuer in the international markets since 1960, is to begin to be privatized in October and will gradually reduce issuance of government guaranteed bonds from the present ¥190 billion ($1.9 billion) to a projected maximum of ¥160 billion in financial year 2008.