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The EBRD has done such a good job in central and eastern Europe, opening up market access and catalyzing transformation of financial systems, that it now may no longer be needed. It must look once again to more troubled economies farther east to renew its mission. Julian Evans reports.

The new management fee structure adopted by Infiniti Capital is likely to ruffle a few feathers in the fund of funds industry. The Swiss investment house is launching a fund of funds, for wealthy individuals and institutional investors, on a zero entry fee basis.

The Kazakh banking sector, which has leapt forward at a remarkable rate for the past four years under the strict supervision of the central bank, is about to get a new supervisor. What next for this success story? Chris Pala reports.

UK banking group HBOS has received many plaudits for its innovative financing in 2003. Deals have included covered bonds, securitization programmes and retail-driven tier 1 capital deals. When you have had to fund £55 billion of asset growth in the past 12 months alone, you are always going to be on the look-out for new funding methods. "In 2003 we had to fund this growth and lengthen wholesale maturities, but we didn't want to over issue in any sector," said HBOS head of funding and liquidity Tony Main at a Credit Suisse First Boston credit conference held in December.

Senior credit analyst, Cheyne Capital

After a year of inactivity, banking reforms in Russia are moving again. The weak are being weeded out and with new regulations on mergers in the pipeline, consolidation of the country's 1,300 banks is imminent. Ben Aris reports.

Emerging-market investment bankers have been tramping the corridors of power in Kiev ever since Ukraine showed signs of shrugging off its economic torpor in 2000. Bond investors are now following. Nick Parsons reports.

In the summer and autumn of 1993, fewer than a dozen officials worked feverishly in complete secrecy to save Kazakhstan from raging post-Soviet inflation and introduce its first-ever national currency.

President Putin asserts that the Yukos case was a one-off attack on illegality. It's clear, though, that a plan to put Russia's biggest companies more firmly under state control and to change the balance of the economy is under way. The president, not big business, will decide which way Russia goes. Ben Aris reports.

While bankers are going through hoops to sell structured financial products to retail investors, UK private investors can now buy one of the oldest and simplest commodities in the world – gold.

A country still associated in many minds with a savage war is determined to put the past behind it, attract foreign investment and join the EU. It needs to move soon or it will be left behind by the rest of Europe. Julian Evans reports.

If you are accustomed to the light and space of the trading floor, sitting on orthopaedically sensitive office furniture in front of ergonomically designed keyboards, spare a thought for your counterparts in private banking.