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One Russian bank not only survived the rouble crisis. It came out stronger.

Thailand's new bankruptcy court sent out an encouraging message to international lenders in March when it declared the country's largest debt defaulter insolvent in a benchmark case that paved the way for its restructuring.

Pfandbrief-style debt is emerging from countries all over Europe, bringing new forms of collateral and legal structures to a market traditionally dominated by German issuers. The new issuers have attracted some new buyers, but are still finding it difficult to tap into investor bases in the US and Asia, partly because of euro weakness. Euromoney.com went behind the scenes at the International Bond Congress to ask some of the biggest German and non-German covered bond issuers what they want from arranging banks and how they are building investor confidence in their products. This roundtable first appeared on the internet at www.euromoney.com/pfandbriefe.

The Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, an influential group of US financial thinkers with a lot of clout in Washington, has spent the past year reconsidering bank capital standards. Their recent proposals call for bankers to raise new funding in the form of subordinated debt as a way to curb bad habits.

Issuer: Ukraine Amount: e2.6 billion Type of issue: Exchange offer Launched: February 4 2000 Lead manager: ING Barings

Allan Meltzer and his cabal of fellow iconoclasts obviously hit something when they fired their round in the debate about the IMF and the World Bank.

Asia may be bouncing back. But apprehension was in the air when the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank convened a conference in Washington to discuss financial contagion. Rudiger Dornbusch, MIT's celebrated international economist, was one of the prime movers for this event. He talked to James Smalhout.

Never underestimate the tribal powers that rule investment banks. The stand-off between Deutsche Bank's global markets division and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson - threatened with integration - is a case in point. Edson Mitchell, Deutsche's head of global markets, was hailed by his chairman Rolf Breuer last year as an Indian chief. By clever use of animal magnetism and the bonus pool, he inspires a Fierce loyalty among his warriors.

The Securities & Exchange Commission wants to impose new responsibilities on audit committees, but the potential liability might put off the highly qualified people companies need to attract. By Mark Kessel

France's turn at the EBRD? The scribblings of journalists are rarely immortal. But Euromoney's former Frankfurt correspondent Laura Covill can proudly look back on the day, nearly two years ago, when she wrote the following in a profile of Horst Köhler, following his appointment as EBRD president. "If he is successful in London, Köhler may yet advance further still - to the IMF's top position."

Any deal that creates a country's largest domestic bank, its top fund manager and the second biggest insurer will have ramifications for all market participants. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA's) takeover of Colonial Limited also provides a springboard for CBA to launch its international aspirations.

As I write, the euro stays deep in its despond at just $0.96/e. That's a far cry from $1.15/e at its launch. Why does the euro stay weak?