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Duet Group aims to manage $1 billion in the Middle East and Africa within three to four years. Today the region accounts for about 10% of the $2 billion of assets managed by the alternatives house. Duet MENA, which was licensed by the Dubai International Financial Centre in October 2008, aims to build a multi-strategy Middle East and North Africa Opportunities Fund to about $250 million by mid 2011.

Innovation in finance is likely to be driven as much from emerging markets as the developed world. Some of the biggest names in banking, asset management and private equity will spring from the markets of Latin America, Asia and EEMEA.

If some recent press coverage of central and eastern Europe is to believed, operating in the consumer finance market in the region is the equivalent of pouring money down the drain. But Czech Republic headquartered PPF Group, which manages more than €10.8 billion-worth of assets across central and eastern Europe, ranging from the Czech Republic to Kazakhstan, demonstrates that the region can still provide rewards as well as risk. The core parts of the group, which was established in 1991, include retail banking through its Home Credit subsidiary, which serves more than 15 million customers, and insurance and asset management through Generali PPF Holding, a joint venture with Italian insurance group Assicurazioni Generali, which boasts more than 10 million customers. In 2008, despite a challenging environment, PPF boosted its profits to €2.8 billion, up sharply from €245 million in 2007. Jiri Smejc, PPF’s chief executive, says that the figures clearly demonstrate the successful execution of his company’s strategy to develop long-term, profitable businesses across the region. "PPF has proven its management experience in acquiring and setting up companies, and developing their value," he says. "This is the very core of our business developer’s concept."

Innovation in finance is likely to be driven as much from emerging markets as the developed world. Some of the biggest names in banking, asset management and private equity will spring from the markets of Latin America, Asia and EEMEA.

Banking industry must regain trust.

Innovation in finance is likely to be driven as much from emerging markets as the developed world. Some of the biggest names in banking, asset management and private equity will spring from the markets of Latin America, Asia and EEMEA.

Banks must work with regulators to shape a prosperous future.

Pedro Aspe became an idol in Mexico when he was the finance minister for nearly a decade. His public career spanned 20 years, after 15 years as an economics professor, and put him in the spotlight on groundbreaking work including Brady bonds, privatizing almost 800 Mexican companies and signing the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 1994, Aspe stepped out of the spotlight and in 1996 launched the investment bank advisory boutique Protego, starting his third career in finance. "I started Protego with one simple theory in mind. I saw that private equity firms in New York could supply equity. In Mexico, many medium-sized companies needed this equity. I stepped in and joined up this supply-and-demand chain," says Aspe.

With the launch of Primus Financial, former Salomon and Citigroup veterans Bob Morse, Huan Guocang and Wing-Fai Ng are hoping to build a "multi-billion global financial services firm based in Asia". They plan to use their $1 billion of start-up capital – all from a single wealthy family in Asia – to move into banking, insurance and asset management, with a focus on providing services to corporations and rich individuals. They have pedigree in the region: Morse was for 25 years a chief executive of Citi Asia, Ng was a managing director at Taiwan’s Fubon Financial responsible for the group’s overall strategy and acquisitions, and Huan was head of investment banking Asia-Pacific at HSBC from 2001 to 2005 before founding the private equity fund that was the precursor of his present venture. The plan is hugely ambitious: the trio aim to create a region-wide financial services platform through strategic acquisitions and selective hiring, beginning with the purchase of a banking platform. The business model may not sound revolutionary, and some industry insiders privately question whether the plan to become "the world’s leading Asia-based financial services holding company" might not be too ambitious and broad. The founders are veteran bankers with deep contacts, however, and if they can target and acquire appropriate banking assets to give them the platform they need there is every chance of success (see Morse signals grand plans for post-Citi bank for more on Primus).

Innovation in finance is likely to be driven as much from emerging markets as the developed world. Some of the biggest names in banking, asset management and private equity will spring from the markets of Latin America, Asia and EEMEA.

Although it was founded only last year, Erste Asset Management has established itself as the number one player in its field in central and eastern Europe. Leveraging off the experience and distribution capabilities of the Erste Group, which outside its home market of Austria also operates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Ukraine, EAM has access to Erste Group’s 16 million-strong customer base in the region and consequently boasts €32 billion of assets under management. Günther Mandl, executive vice-president, says that Erste Group’s 3,000 branches in the region give EAM a strong competitive advantage. "Our local presence and knowledge is a key strength – there are lots of cross-selling opportunities and our business model is geared towards keeping our number one position in a high-growth region." He adds that in addition to its retail distribution channels, EAM is well placed to exploit the development of the institutional investor market in the region, servicing the growing needs of pension funds, insurance companies and corporate treasury teams. "We are well prepared for the future, strong across all the markets where we operate, and are improving our services and products all the time through our client-driven approach," he says.

When it comes to listing the leading international banking groups that operate in central and eastern Europe, the names that immediately spring to mind are such banks as RZB and Erste Bank from Austria or Italy’s UniCredit or Intesa SanPaolo. But France’s Société Générale can also justifiably lay claim to being one of the leaders of the emerging European banking pack through its ownership of household names throughout the region – including Splitska Banka in Croatia, Komercni Banka in the Czech Republic, BRD in Romania, Rosbank in Russia and SKB Banka in Slovenia. In addition to these big players, it owns banks in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia and Moldova. Altogether the bank has 17 subsidiaries with more than 2,800 branches in the region, which serve more than 10 million customers. Central and eastern Europe accounts for 75% of Société Générale’s net business income from its international retail banking operations. Concerns about the short-term economic health of the region notwithstanding, Jean-Louis Mattei, head of international retail banking, says: "We are focusing on managing our overheads but are also preparing for any rebound – there’s still a lot of room for development in the region."