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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.

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

Ever the bashful bride, Turkey's Garanti Bank has turned away from a second marriage offer from Italy's Banca Intesa over apparent differences on long-term risks, values and the treatment of employees in the post-merger environment. The merger, which unravelled in July after scarcely a three-month engagement, would have joined Italy's largest bank, with assets of almost $330 billion, and Turkey's number three financial institution, with assets of about $16 billion and shareholder equity of $1.75 billion.

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The Shariah-compliant debt market has grown rapidly, with interest from issuers and investors outside as well as inside the Muslim world. The next development is likely to be more corporate issues using Islamic structures.

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."

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Google's decision to use an auction for its IPO sprang from a desire to get what it regarded as a fair price, avoid post-issue upsets and offer fair investor access. Did it succeed in these goals and might it have done better had it shown more respect to its bankers?

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.

Structured credit is becoming a syndicated market. At the forefront of this development is JPMorgan, which in April structured and launched the first syndicated single-tranche collateralized swap obligation, a CDO whose underlying reference portfolio consists of credit derivative swaps. Aria CDO 1 is an active deal managed by AXA Investment Managers. JPMorgan recruited a five-strong group of selling banks to distribute the deal just as it would involve co-lead arrangers to sell a corporate bond.