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Former Citibanker Deogracias Vistan has taken over as CEO of Equitable PCI, and his main goal is to clean up the bank's balance sheet and its image. The bank’s relationship with Joseph Erap Estrada does not make Vistan’s task an easy one.

What do the the CEO of Standard Chartered, the finance minister of Pakistan, the central bank governor of the Philippines and the opposition leader in Liberia have in common? They all used to work at Citibank.

Some Citibank alumni did not simply live on their legacy at Citi, but made their own legacies.

John Reed kept himself to himself in the latter part of his career at Citibank. And these days he is pretty reclusive. Colleagues say he is still haunted by the period in 1999 when, in the aftermath of Citi’s takeover by Travelers, he was eclipsed by his co-chairman, Sandy Weill.

What better way to start off an awards ceremony than with a quick reminder of one's place in the world? That's the tack comedian Stephen Fry took as he introduced Euromoney's second annual awards dinner at the Natural History Museum in London last month.

When bankers involved in European credit issuance enthuse about the astonishing growth in the market they are only in part talking their own book. The euro revolution means demand is certainly there. Supply of the right mix of paper in the right amounts and with sufficient liquidity is another question. And beyond that there are growing suspicions that most buyers are not taking enough account of risk.

Like the unseen rule-master in the British television show Big Brother, the Basel Accord encourages infantile behaviour among its charges. Within the confines of the system, rational, intelligent adults are transformed into pouting, tantrum-throwing, devious children.

Secondary loan trading has traditionally been seen as rather a dirty business by European financial institutions.

The unthinkable became true when the German government agreed to the demands of the European Commission to abolish state support for Landesbanks and savings banks last month. German private banks were quick to announce their interest in taking over some of the 562 savings banks, which have a market share of around 50% - the highest share of public banks world wide. But it might not be that easy. Although the agreement catapults the process of consolidation of Germany's overcrowded banking sector into a higher gear, it won't happen in the very near future.

InterSec Research, the international investment management consultant, has produced the first top-50 table of asset managers ranked by European-sourced business. InterSec's Tabitha Rendall reports on the survey's findings

This year’s ranking of the largest 250 emerging-market banks indicates that China’s banks are still way ahead of their rivals in terms of size. Citigroup’s acquisition of Banamex will give impetus to consolidation in Latin America where banks will need sheer size to survive. Few of the handful of east European banks in the tables are expected to be still there in 2002. By Andrew Newby, with data from Moody’s Investors Service.

A new emerging-market crisis, to follow that of 1998, has surfaced. The immediate Argentine crisis will be resolved. The politicians there have proposed budget cuts that, if supported domestically and implemented, will provide some relief for a while. But this won't address Argentina's growth dilemma. That's a supply-side issue and the downside of a vastly overvalued currency. And it won't do the trick of getting interest rates down to levels where Argentina could grow either. As for Turkey, I have no hope that interest rates there can be got down to sustainable levels either.