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While US asset managers continue to be seen as the world’s biggest players, European institutions are catching up. Intersec Research Corporation’s latest ranking of the top 250 non-US asset managers shows who is growing fastest

Author: Nigel Dudley

Big rises for Asian banks reflect not only their gradual recovery from crisis but the scale of the hammering they took a few years back. Many are still regarded by analysts as weak though in the longer run their position could be stronger than those banks which have not yet been forced to reform. This year’s top 250 emerging market banks, prepared by Moody’s Investor Services, shows the considerable changes that are taking place in the sector. Keri Geiger reports

There are no easy mergers, as Dresdner Bank proved again last month in its failed link-up with Commerzbank. But both this attempt and that between Dresdner and Deutsche Bank were particularly difficult, and their failure ought to be no surprise. Both were defensive deals, aimed at cutting costs and exiting unprofitable businesses – not least retail banking.

The recent improvement in performance at Phillips & Drew will provoke mixed reactions in Tony Dye, according to those who know him best.

Even the whiff of a country’s likely exit from eurozone membership could cause a run on that country’s banks and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is the logical conclusion of an exercise that few within the eurozone, or even outside it, dare to rehearse. It could destroy the euroland banking system. But the European Commission’s own president, Romano Prodi, has twice raised the taboo subject of a euro exit. The intellectual challenge of predicting how things would work out won’t go away. Brian Kettell takes us through a hypothetical French exit.

The guaranteed bonus, like the jumbo shrimp and military intelligence, is a bit of a contradiction in terms. A bonus implies something given as a reward for exceptional performance. Guaranteeing it makes it more of a right, like a normal salary. But the business appeal of this catchy oxymoron is in high vogue on Wall Street as firms respond to the lure of dot coms. In years’ past only a few firms would be paying guaranteed bonuses, often during a rapid build-up and to compensate new hires for the risk of joining from established firms. Such guaranteed pay-outs were regarded as a sign of weakness. Now they have become commonplace. James Smalhout reports

Euromoney takes a look at three publicly available models: PortfolioManager, CreditMetrics, and CreditRisk+.

Author: Gill Baker Thailand has a huge number of debt restructuring cases and non-performing borrowers but they are steadily being dealt with. And the signs are that the authorities are starting to break the back of the problem, although there is still a long way to go.

The merged UBS found itself with two brand name asset managers: Brinson Partners and Phillips & Drew. Trouble was both were performing badly looking for value in markets that only rewarded growth. Investors lost their patience and finally star managers Gary Brinson and Tony Dye quit. Where do they go from here? UBS is merging the operations but keeping the names. The philosophy also stays on a bet that the pendulum has swung back and value investing will again produce results. Julian Marshall examines the chances

Author: James Smalhout Those tough guys on the Bank of Japan’s policy board did the right thing in spite of themselves when they met on July 17. The group had been flirting since April with the idea of ending its policy of zero overnight interest rates. The rate first hit zero in February 1999. In the end, they voted not to hike it, but threatened to do exactly that if Japan’s recovery continues much longer. Only the bankruptcy of the Sogo department store a few days earlier made the policy board flinch.

Since Bashar al-Assad was elected as president of Syria to succeed his father, Hafez al-Assad, with a surprisingly low 97.29% of the vote - his father pulled in over 99% of the vote when he was re-elected - there have been mutterings that Syria might be looking to open up and reform the country's Wnancial sector. The international banking community, however, seems less than excited and in some cases extremely sceptical.