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Non-performing loans in Mexico are growing at a worrying pace. Despite official estimates putting consumer NPLs at 5.8% of the total consumer loan market, some analysts believe that real levels are in double digits already.

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"The problem is that banks have ended up lending to these deals by accident – they thought that they were underwriting them"

Kazakhstan’s banks have built up onerous debt repayments after a splurge of Eurobond issuance. Are they facing a liquidity crunch?

South Korea’s new president, Lee Myung Bak, urgently wants the privatization of Korea Development Bank; he hopes it will become globally competitive. But some question the wisdom of the deal. Lawrence White reports from Seoul.

Nobody could ever accuse Michel Orlov, president and founder of Black Earth Farming, of lacking the courage of his convictions. As the one-time private equity professional who quit the industry in 2005 to take up the helm of a greenfield farming play in Russia freely admits: "At the time a lot of people thought I was mad."

In a further sign that the world’s leading companies view Russia as a core market, US drinks company PepsiCo is paying $1.4 billion to acquire 75% of Lebedyansky, Russia’s leading juice producer. Lebedyansky, which controls 30% of the country’s juice market, reported sales of $800 million last year. "This agreement provides us with a strong platform for continued expansion in one of the world’s fastest-growing juice markets," says Michael White, PepsiCo’s international chief executive. Once the initial purchase is completed a mandatory offer to buy the balance of the outstanding shares, which are listed in Moscow, is set to be launched later this year. Lebedyansky, which controls 30% of the Russian juice market, reported sales of $800 million in 2007.

Flush with petrodollars and ambitious plans, Nigeria’s banks are coming to London. Guaranty Trust Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks, has just been authorized by the UK’s Financial Services Authority to operate as a bank in the UK. Its subsidiary, GTB UK, which is based in Margaret Street in London, will focus on commercial activity in areas where there are already established links between Nigeria and the UK and the other countries where it operates, including Gambia and Sierra Leone. The subsidiary will provide banking services such as receiving deposits and writing mortgages for both commercial and retail customers and intermediates.

Romania is vulnerable to the global credit crisis, with its current account in deficit, a budget shortfall and a domestic credit binge.

New organization for the merged RBS/ABN business is unveiled.

Turkish companies are the rising stars of corporate governance in emerging Europe. But CEZ remains the one to beat.