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The belief that Libor is an actual rate at which banks lend substantial money to one another is a façade that the credit crunch has torn down with a vengeance.

Jack Jeffery, former chief executive of EBS, has joined option pricing specialist SuperDerivatives as chief operations officer. Jeffery will lead SuperDerivatives’ management team and oversee the execution of its business strategy. He will be based in London. The company has also employed Anton Aucamp, who worked with Jeffery at EBS, as its head of marketing.

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.

The leading bank in Guatemala, Banco Industrial, tops the tables in terms of total deposits ($3.13 billion), total equity ($377 million) and net loan portfolio ($2.28 billion). These figures are supported by a year-on-year 52% growth in net income at the end of the first quarter of 2008. Industrial has a market share of 28.7% in terms of assets and 30% of all cheques cashed in Guatemala are processed by the bank.

In 2007, the Barbados business unit of First Caribbean International reported good financial results. Productive loans and advances offshore and onshore ended the fiscal year at $1.7 billion, reflecting an 8.2% growth for Barbados over 2006. Net income for the business unit, which includes the East Caribbean Islands and Belize as well as Barbados, came to $65.2 million, an increase of 23.5%. Barbados alone recorded net income of $34.7 million, an increase on the previous year of 30.1%. This contrasts with Barbados National Bank’s 10.7% increase in 2006-07 profits. By December 2007, IT upgrades on three platforms across First Caribbean’s business had also been completed.

On June 11, Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, agreed to remove a tax of 1.5% on all financial transactions, admitting that the government did not need this revenue and that it was helping to push up inflation. He also introduced new exchange rate controls that will reduce the paperwork for capital goods imports. But this applies only to companies seeking $50,000 or less.

Andre Esteves, who was chairman and chief executive of Latin America at UBS Pactual, has left the firm to set up a fund. Rodrigo Xavier will replace him and will report to Jerker Johansson, chairman and chief executive of UBS Investment Bank. In addition, Juerg Haller has been named chairman and chief executive of UBS Latin America, spanning all business groups.

The funding crisis that has affected many other global banks since the summer of 2007 started early in Iceland, and has been especially severe for banks there. Domestically, the banks face a slowing economy and rocketing inflation. Externally, investors continue to fret about Icelandic banks’ business model and rapid growth. The largest of Iceland’s three commercial banks, Kaupthing Bank, is best placed to meet the challenges faced by the sector.

This award is always one of the most tightly contested and this year is no exception. What stands out over the past 12 months is how well Lebanon’s leading banks have fared given the difficult political situation there. But then, unfortunately, they have plenty of experience of operating in such an unpropitious environment.

In a year when the virtues of retail and corporate banking have come to the fore, Ceska Sporitelna secures the best bank title again in the Czech Republic. With support from its parent, Erste Bank, it has transformed itself into a banking powerhouse. Through 640 branches Ceska Sporitelna serves more than 5.3 million customers. In the past year it put in another strong performance with net interest income growing from Kc18.37 billion in 2006 to reach Kc21.2 billion ($1.37 billion), while operating profit rose to Kc18.37 billion in 2007 from Kc15.15 billion in 2006. As a result the bank’s return on equity edged up from 23% to 23.8% and the cost-income ratio improved from 53% in 2006 to 50% in 2007.

Capital markets and financial services have advanced dramatically in the past few years across Africa. In this debate, Nigerian bankers and informed foreign peers discuss the achievements and the upcoming challenges.

Ghana Commercial Bank is the largest local bank in the country. It was set up in 1953 to help local entrepreneurs and now has nearly 140 branches throughout the country. Despite strong competition from Nigerian entrants to the market, as well as more traditional rivals such as Barclays and Standard Chartered – last year’s winner – the GCB has posted impressive figures, making a net profit of C25 million ($22.9 million) for the year ending 2007, while shareholder funds have increased to C167 million.