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The financing of the Julietta goldmine project in Russia's far east has been handled by commercial banks thanks to careful work by law firms

There's a bully in Monaco's playground, and he's brought his gang along for support. Out to spoil the fun in the sun on the Côte d'Azur, France has announced it is cracking down on Monaco's money-laundering, tax-haven culture.

Medium-size, family-owned companies may be the mainstay of the German economy, but they have been ignored by equity investors seduced either by smaller, riskier high-growth stocks or restructuring corporate giants. Now Mittelstand companies cannot even rely on their traditional banks for funding. And those that finally accept the need to go public often meet a frosty reception. Nigel Dudley reports

Contagion from US domestic corporate bond markets infected Latin American debt in the last months of the year, reversing earlier strong performance by Latin bonds that rallied on the improving credit fundamentals of Mexico and Brazil. It’s one of the downsides for Latin borrowers of having their foreign debt now predominantly owned by so-called crossover investors, not Latin specialists. These nervous buyers bring added volatility to a market where periodic panics, such as that recently surrounding Argentina, are a regular feature. They won’t even consider financing the region’s corporate borrowers, which must now hope domestic markets develop quickly. Danielle Robinson reports

Vice-chairman, Barclays Capital

TradeWeb has proven itself to be the bellwether for institutional bond trading. But internal tensions are mounting as participating banks join competing foreign exchange platforms.

Cyrus Ardalan

Best bank for online equity

It's just one piece of bad news after another for markets at the moment. Falling stocks of oil in the US and the Arab-Israel nightmare are keeping oil prices well above Opec's stated target of $28 per barrel. Major US corporations announce each day earnings results that disappoint investors. The dot com and hi-tech sector takes a huge pounding.

Best site for new bond issues

The unthinkable is happening in European covered bonds. German mortgage banks no longer sneer at any attempt to mimic their market and its proud history of never producing a default. New and sophisticated covered bond laws in France and Luxembourg have improved on the Pfandbrief model. Because of this, German banks are now scrambling to copy other issuers’ refinements. Lack of uniformity is still a problem. International investors must comb through the different laws and regulations that characterize distinct European covered bond markets. Perhaps one day a single European market will finally emerge. Anja Helk reports