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Low interest rates and improvements in financial stability and management in large parts of Latin America are putting banks on the path to increased lending capacity as demand for credit increases.

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.

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.

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Methodology | Activist investors set governance agenda

To date, securitization in eastern Europe has been a very occasional affair. Turkey has seen a few future-flow transactions, Hungary has a relatively developed domestic mortgage bond market, but you can count the number of other transactions on the fingers of two hands. However, the market should pick up this year.

The prospect of next month's European Commission decision on EU membership for Romania has concentrated the minds of the country's politicians and bankers. A flurry of reforms have been accompanied by an acceleration of privatization to get the country into shape for a 2007 accession target.

This survey is designed to provide a combined qualitative and quantitative review of the best services in private banking, organized by region and by areas of service. It also aims to be an informative guide for high-net-worth individuals on the range of service providers that are available. Our 38 categories are designed to reflect the strengths of both local niche companies and global firms.

When it comes to picking stocks and beating the market, women are better, says DigitalLook.com. In a study of 100,000 portfolios from July 2003 to July 2004, the company found the average woman's portfolio grew 10%, beating the FTSE All-Share by 3% and the average man's portfolio by 4%.

European and US equity markets have mirrored each other for years but macro trends could force a decoupling over the next two years. ABN Amro strategists see several factors paving the way for this. The first is that productivity growth in the US and Europe has passed an inflection point. The US has experienced two years of strong productivity growth, but the rate is unlikely to be sustainable. European productivity still has room for improvement.

There has been an unseasonal tension on some of Spain's more exclusive beaches over the past month. August is usually a time for the great and the good of industry to leave the stresses of the cities behind them and unwind by the sea. But for the chairmen of some of the biggest companies, the holidays were spoiled by the knowledge that in the autumn they will be fighting for their jobs.