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If Banca Intesa follows through on its interest in Garanti Bankasi, Turkey's banking market and the general economy could receive a big boost. David Judson reports.

The London office of Goldman Sachs is always a good place to spot slightly scary looking men in smart suits who are whispering down their sleeves. Usually these people are perfectly harmless traders. But one Monday morning in late March, even more of these characters than usual were to be found in the bank's swanky corridors. It wasn't "bring your secret service officer to work day", but because security had been beefed up for a visit from UK prime minister Tony Blair.

Citigroup Private Bank has signed up golf legend Gary Player to act as an informal ambassador. As part of the multi-year endorsement, Player will represent the bank on his travels playing championship golf, and will "help to strengthen the firm's long-term relationships with some of the world's most successful families".

Methodology and explanation of tables

Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, pictured below, surprised Anvar Saidenov when he appointed him as the new head of the central bank. But Saidenov has an enviable task in working out how to spend the new and growing wealth that the country is gaining from oil. Christopher Pala reports.

Its bonds have traditionally traded wider than Russia's, but with its potential for a diversified manufacturing economy and a resurgence in sovereign debt issuance, Ukraine is winning renewed interest from emerging-market funds. Nick Parsons reports.

A group of Harvard-trained physicists and astrophysicists are trying their hand at running a hedge fund in the US. Rather aptly they've called their firm Financial Labs and launched their fund at the end of last month. The five Harvard graduates set up their firm in July last year. Since then they have been developing a technological infrastructure that they feel differentiates them from other funds. Aaron Sokasian, co-founder of Financial Labs, says: "Our approach is extremely objective and numerically based. We don't really use any kind of discretion."

This has been an exciting few weeks for Commerzbank. First it smiled its way through yet more poor results, while promising better times ahead. Days later, it sealed a merger with a retail bank. Then it awarded such low bonuses to securities staff that it risked losing talent. Here, senior executives discuss the bank's strategy, prospects for consolidation and the trouble with bonuses. Katie Martin reports

Three months into Croatia's new nationalist-led government's term, the verdict is so far, so good. The administration has worked double time to promote Croatia's chances of following neighbouring Slovenia into the EU. But it must now boost growth and get on top of the country's deteriorating public finances. Peter Lee reports.

Customer pressure for a wider choice of top-performing products is driving banks into doing what was once unthinkable - selling their competitors' wares. But they are also finding this trend towards open architecture is encouraging them to focus on their strengths and improve their own performance. Helen Avery reports.

The west should beware - it is about to be invaded by hordes from the east. They are not benefit-seeking immigrants but rather bargain-hunting entrepreneurs. Soon they might even be buying your bank. And in Turkey, local-born bankers with western skills are determined to drag their country into the modern capital markets era. Julian Evans profiles some of the leading eastern European entrepreneurs who are taking regional finance to a global level and Metin Munir looks at the pioneers seeking to pull Turkish banking out of stagnation.