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Enronitis is spreading fast. How virulent it proves to be, and how quickly the contagion can be contained, is anyone's guess. But its chief symptom - the fear that companies have been systematically misrepresenting their accounts through off-balance-sheet financing, special purpose entities and minimal disclosure - will not be easily suppressed. US regulators hope a fresh dose of rules will provide a remedy. Others say more rules will only mean more loopholes and that what is needed is a complete overhaul of the requirements for company reporting, auditing, governance and analysis worldwide. Only then can confidence in the system be restored, they say.

A greater move towards international accounting standards is certain to result from the Enron furore. But already there are signs of regulatory one-upmanship. And bankers worry that the debate on the rights and wrongs of the Enron affair is quickly giving way to a turf battles and point-scoring between regulators and accounting bodies.

Chairman, International Accounting Standards Board

Two years ago the asset management division of UBS was facing an uncertain future. With figureheads Gary Brinson and Tony Dye gone it was time for new faces to take the lead. As value investing has come back into favour, performance has turned around and now UBS has done the logical thing, uniting the operation under one banner. Where next for UBS Global Asset Management?

Canada’s secretary of state (international financial institutions)

SPAIN

If people thought the out-of-court settlement between Unilever and Merrill Lynch had laid the whole affair to rest, they were wrong.

Carlos Rohm, vice-chairman of Banco General de Negocios (BGN), is facing charges of fraud in Argentina, based on evidence mainly supplied by his brother, Jose Rohm, the chairman of BGN.

Derivatives can be used to hedge risk, to speculate or, unacceptably, to cook the books. That those involved in the financial markets can simultaneously fear credit risk and the use of instruments to allay it suggests that they need to identify derivative users’ intentions more clearly.

The timing could not have been worse for Portugal's governing socialist party. A month ahead of the elections, when it is already lagging behind in the polls, the EU slaps it on the wrist over public spending, an issue central to both parties' campaigns.

Egged on by vociferous fans, Galatasaray is doing well. Turkey's top football club has not been beaten for 18 home European matches.

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