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Harmonised payments across Europe will not meet the goal of launching by February 2014, because some countries are taking advantage of a two-year extension to the deadline for adopting agreed standards. Businesses still need to adapt to a single system for processing payments across Europe, and they will initially handle data in different ways from country to country.

With Brazilian inflation now above the target rate, in mid-April the central bank announced a rise in interest rates for the first time since July 2011. But the move, in the face of stubborn and diffuse pressure (over 70% of the country’s inflation basket is now affected by inflation) was dovish – just a 25 basis point increase in the face of the market expectations of 50bp. The minutes from the central bank’s monetary policy committee meeting also showed that two of the eight members voted against any rise.

After a poor 2012, the central bank forecast growth of 4% for 2013; it has already cut this to 3.1%. International investors are going elsewhere in the region. With domestic investment falling, Brazil will do well even to hit that target.

Finance minister Nizar Baraka says he can – and must – bring down Morocco’s gaping fiscal deficit. But after a debut dollar bond in December, how much can he change the country’s financial model in the midst of pan-Arab revolt?

All the roads on the approach to central Juba have been cordoned off. Heavily armed military personnel and police line the roads and prevent cars, motorbikes and pedestrians from completing their journeys. Frustrated and hot, many people who didn’t make the journey to work early enough are forced to return home. Others, mindful of short-tempered officials, try to edge their way forward, eager to catch a glimpse of the action ahead. Heightened security signals the arrival of Omar Bashir to town. This is the first time the president of Sudan has visited his neighbour in the south since independence on July 9 2011. In January 2012, South Sudan stopped transporting oil via Sudan as political tensions and a heated dispute over export fees escalated.

Education is high on the agenda for some of the banks in South Sudan. Ivory Bank often makes national radio broadcasts on Friday mornings to educate people about their banking products. The South Sudan Micro Finance Development Facility gives grants and loans to microfinance institutions to help them reach potential borrowers. But the lack of human capital in South Sudan creates another barrier to a thriving banking environment. Government regulations state that all banks must employ at least 90% local people, but with only 27% of the population literate, it is difficult to hire the right expertise.

Independent for just under two years, South Sudan still suffers from pervasive insecurity. Commercial banks have sprung up in the capital, selling themselves as a safe place for people to keep their money. But how are they making bumper profits when they are often little more than a place for deposits?

Euromoney’s investigation into Barclays’ Gulf deals reveals the apparent appetite of CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, for securities in the UK bank in the 2008 crisis. This casts a light on the shifting sands in the portfolio strategies of sovereign funds in recent years.

The euro suffered on Thursday as Mario Draghi, European Central Bank (ECB) president, said he was open to negative deposit rates in the eurozone, a move that could see funds pouring out of the region.

Euromoney prides itself on having international reach, but it seems that there is one corner of the world that our reputation hasn’t stretched to. On a recent trip to South Sudan, the world’s newest country, a senior bank official at a local bank branch in Juba misinterpreted Euromoney’s request for an interview on the growth of the banking system there.

After a deluge of negative headlines from the eurozone this year, why are policymakers in emerging Europe still queuing up to pledge their allegiance to the single currency?

Hedge funds are a curious bunch. Take Dromeus Capital Group, which last November trumpeted the launch of its Greek-focused hedge fund, Dromeus Greek Advantage Fund, to bet on the recovery of Greek assets.