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.

Awards for Excellence 1997

Controversial though they are, MTN league tables cannot be ignored and Merrill Lynch, Euromoney MTN House of the Year, tops them all. It is way ahead in terms of programmes arranged, presence on dealer groups and as a bookrunner of non-syndicated MTN issues.

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

Edited by Steven Irvine

This year, Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are broader in scope than ever before. A number of new categories have been introduced to reflect changes in the structure of international markets.

Having arrived from Merrill Lynch four years ago to join a "European bank", she was said to be upset by her feeling of déjà vu.

A bid so finely priced as to put profits in doubt, a smouldering argument over 500 years of iron ore reserves, the lack of a new story to tell investors - these are the problems Merrill Lynch faces after winning the mandate to privatize Companhia Vale de Rio Doce. Competitors that failed to secure the contract say they are sleeping better now it has gone to someone else. Brian Caplen reports.

The professionals who left Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch last year compare it with George Orwell's Animal Farm. It's a pretty successful farm, and more human than most. But have the guys at the top pushed their teamwork ethos and those catchy slogans a little too far? Michelle Celarier reports

LEADING THRIFTS THROUGH CHALLENGING TIMES

MICHAEL VON CLEMM END OF A LEGEND

Amid a sucession of changes in the Euromarkets, mant banks have lost their way. Others are striking out in what they think is the direction of the future. Rarely is it leading them to profit. Few have enough skilled people or space to put them in. The story of Orion Royal Bank is such a parable that we devote a seperate article to it. No bank has coped with all the challenges of 1985. Which one will do better in 1986?