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Some European banks are coming through the credit crisis relatively unscathed, or even with enhanced market positions and reputations. Never has differentiation been more important.

The present round of bank reorganizations look as if they might not be as efficacious as leaving things well alone.

"For the rest of the bank, we’re actually managing the businesses; with the problem assets we’re not really managing them at all, we’re just managing the accounting"

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.

Many banks will become less-levered, more conservative, far duller institutions promising much lower and more utility-like returns to investors

Concerns about an economic slowdown now weigh on capital markets.

"We have all the signs of emerging markets in the US now – there’s stagflation, growing unemployment, excess debt, poor monetary management – I just wonder when the US will be included in the EMBI+"

Central bank governor Martin Redrado is confident he can win the fight against inflation, but investors are sceptical of Kirchner’s policies.

Even as they delever, shed assets, raise capital and hoard liquidity against further hits, banks know they must also fundamentally change the rotten underlying business practices that led them to disaster. If they can’t, even those that manage to survive this disaster will fall victim to the next. That’s if the regulators don’t shut them down first. Peter Lee reports on an industry trying to relearn the basics.

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.

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.

Lawyers around the world are readying lawsuits to file against banks that sold toxic products to investors. Which types of deals are likely to be the subject of the biggest payouts? And how will banks pay for them?