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A slowdown in the growth of China's asset pool is not deterring new entrants among fund managers.

Anvar Saidenov, the new governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, speaks to Euromoney's Nick Kochan about efforts to diversify the economy, control the inflationary effects of foreign currency inflows and develop more active financial markets.

Analysts are growing increasingly concerned about rising problem loans advanced to SMEs by Korean banks. The banks' track record inspires little confidence. They lent unwisely to the conglomerates in the late 1990s and then hit problems with consumer credit cards. Have the Korean banks learnt their lesson or is a third bad debt crisis looming?

Hero Brahms, the former CFO and board member of Linde, the German-based technology group, has decided to make the leap from the corporate world to the banking world with his move to SG Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB). Brahms, 63, has become a non-executive senior advisor in Germany and will assist SGCIB in its development strategy in Germany. Brahms will also use his CFO and corporate background to help with the bank's approach to corporate and financial institution clients; with so much focus on the importance of banking relationships his experience should prove very useful.

The EU's decision in December on Turkey's bid for membership will have dramatic effects on the country's economic development. But even if the formal accession process begins, major reforms will still have to be undertaken.

Argentina is facing an invidious situation. It has strong motives to resolve the default on its foreign debt but its offer could be strangled at birth. Many creditors seem unwilling to accept it. The proposed bond exchange, the world's largest ever, is just the beginning of the road back to international acceptance.

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Wait long enough and anything comes back into fashion. Even flares. Now it's high-yield cash collateralized bonds, or CDOs.

The Central Bank of Jordan has advanced deregulation of the country's banking sector considerably in recent years. According to Adel Satel, analyst at Moody's Investors Service: "Continued reforms in the financial sector have strengthened the banking system's capital base, and introduced additional prudential requirements and more transparency into the system." Roger Smithyes, general manager of Jordan International Bank London, says: "Overall, the sector is very well managed and very well controlled. It goes in line with the general view of Jordan."

Iran's economic liberalization programme has shown impressive results. But the victory of conservative forces in the latest elections threatens further progress. Meanwhile the country's banks are incapable of funding its corporations, which are turning instead to the capital markets.

You're a populist left-wing politician in South America. Your country's elite doesn't like you, and Wall Street is scathing. Your reputation could do with a bit of help. What do you do? Why, take out an advertisement in the New York press, of course. The trend started in July, when an advert appeared in the New York Times. "Argentina," it blared: "A responsible country, a responsible proposal". A list of the great and the good followed, attesting to Argentina's "sincere and realistic proposal to creditors" (see Argentina's creditors brace for lowball offer). U2's Bono, Mikhail Gorbachev and actors Emma Thompson and Viggo Mortensen were prominent.

Slovakia boasts the fastest growth rate in central and eastern Europe as it turns from regional laggard to leader. It has boosted growth, controlled government spending and attracted FDI with a tax policy some of its larger neighbours dislike. They won't intimidate finance minister Ivan Miklos.