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This debate took place in London on Friday July 11.

Third rights issue in a row for UK bank is shunned.

The continent’s main markets, such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Angola, are attracting growing interest from investors. Foreign and local emerging market financial specialists analyse this change of attitude.

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.

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.

The country is looking to the future under a pro-investment government. Foreign banks, private equity funds and manufacturers are interested, but there’s no guaranteed alpha on the Mekong. Lawrence White reports.

The Philippines’ finance secretary has stabilized the economy during his three-year tenure, but external shocks could derail his plans.

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.

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

In contrast to the US and western Europe, the private equity industry in Russia is in rude health. Guy Norton reports from Moscow on the rationale for the optimistic outlook.

There is an old joke that represents a quick and easy way to understand the basic principles of political and economic ideologies:

Continuing problems are forcing firms to reconsider market timing, the balance between public and private funding and the importance of neglected sources such as retail and corporate deposits. Six specialists debate the issues.