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Jersey City used to be good for three things: it was a good place to park the car before getting on the ferry to New York, it served as the butt of many a poor joke by Manhattanites, and offered a fantastic view of the skyline across the Hudson. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre destroyed the latter, at least for the time being. Though not the prettiest buildings to many, for 25 years the twin towers dominated and defined Manhattan. They were usually the first buildings you would see as you neared the island, and also served as a useful reference point if you got lost when walking downtown.

In times of financial uncertainty, it is always tempting for banks to retreat to the business they know best. In the Netherlands, this means pulling back from international expansion and focusing on the domestic retail market. But there is always going to be one bank looking abroad for new opportunities.

When forex trading first harnessed the internet, banks tried to attract clients to their individual platforms. They soon faced the problem that some customers were obliged to seek the best price for every transaction. Hence the difficult birth and troubled childhood of multi-bank platforms. End-users seem little more happy with these systems than the rival banks that set them up. And before they have had a chance to digest their implications clients are being offered the prospect of trading directly with each other. Jennifer Morris reports on a market whose innovators may have taken a step too far

Francois Pinault, chairman of retail group Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) and Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury products company LVMH-Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton are sparring again.

Universal banks are making great strides in winning business that used to be the preserve of the investment banks. In part a function of the weak state of the financial markets, it may also be a secular trend. A big balance sheet is a mighty weapon and investment banks will be particularly pressed if they are forced to indulge in competitive lending to retain customers. Yet the investment banks’ prospects have been blighted as much by their own mistakes, such as ineptly timed waves of sackings of key personnel after losses, as by irresistible new forces.

Author: Julie Dalla-Costa

Global finance is in the front line of the campaign against terrorism. The markets have so far proved resilient, thanks to a massive injection of liquidity by central banks and a brief interlude when a spirit of cooperation broke out among Wall Street rivals. Shoring up global confidence and leaning on international banks to line up for an economic war to starve terrorists of funds are now Washington's financial priorities. Broker-dealers made hay in the flurry of securities selling. But nothing can disguise the fact that the world economy and investment banking were in a parlous state even before September 11. The fog that surrounds the political and military outcome has added new uncertainty to recovery prospects.

The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenka, was re-elected with a big majority last month on a vague platform of economic liberalization. But few expect a wave of privatization or reform. Since the collapse of the USSR a decade ago, Belarus has forged a bizarre model of economic management that defies conventional categorization. Part Soviet-style command economy, part crony capitalism, the system has given a few years of relative prosperity. Now though, amid claims that opponents have been assassinated and signs that the economy is crumbling, Lukashenka faces a reckoning. Erik D’Amato assesses the prospects for a country that will be an immediate neighbour to the EU when Poland accedes to the economic community

The days of professional footballers retiring from the sport to run a pub are well and truly gone. The riches bestowed on the game's top stars have done more than just bump up their bank balances. If the latest move by Alan Shearer is anything to go by, their new-found wealth is encouraging them to take an interest in investment strategy.

Turkish inspectors have discovered that the governmental abuse of the state banks continues and has remained unpunished.

The reform of Russia’s electricity sector is going faster than that of other utilities. UES chief executive Anatoly Chubais talked to Ben Aris about the proposals and the timetable