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What does it take for banks and investment banks to excel? Obviously they need customers, products, capital, technology, sound strategy, good people and leadership. That's tough enough to assemble, as is managing the balance between customer business and own-account trading. But the characteristic that bankers themselves talk about most as the one that distinguishes winning firms from the rest is even tougher to define and measure. It is culture.

May's credit market turmoil hit the profits of all four US brokers that reported second-quarter earnings last month, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley especially. There'll be more to come in July when the universal banks, and Merrill Lynch, report. JPMorgan has already warned that its trading results are the worst for some time. But the firm has at least had the chance to offset some of its problems with gains from June's more bullish credit trading environment.

Ameritrade stays independent and buys TD Waterhouse instead

Russia: Finance minister issues warning

Relations between president and prime minister deteriorate

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CNOOC, China's state-controlled international oil company, launched the first contested bid by a Chinese company when it announced an all-cash offer for Unocal, a US oil and gas company with assets in Asia. CNOOC's offer values Unocal equity at $18.5 billion and outbids the recommended $17 billion shares-and-cash deal from US oil major Chevron. The Chinese company's move is expected by the market to lead to a protracted bidding war.

Awards for Excellence 2005

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The German exchange aims to take on CME to tap the growing interest in FX as an asset class

Bank of America announced in June its intention of investing $3 billion for a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second-biggest state lender, as part of a strategic move into the country. In a deal that took the market by surprise, Bank of America stated that it had entered into agreements with CCB to provide strategic assistance in relation to, inter alia, corporate governance, risk management, credit cards, consumer banking and treasury services. Bank of America is presumably salivating over the prospect of CCB's 136 million retail accounts and 14,500 branches.