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HSBC faces a bizarre lawsuit over the rebranding of subsidiaries. With 80% of the new HSBC signs already up in the UK outside former Midland branches, a rival financial institution, HFC Bank, has begun litigation against HSBC claiming it is damaging its franchise and stealing its hard-earned brand name.

Thirty years ago, US withholding-tax regulations kick-started the Eurodollar market which Euromoney was founded to report on. And today, withholding-tax regulation is again a hot topic in the international bond markets. Although the European Central Bank (ECB) has refused to comment publicly on the recent furore over savings tax harmonization, saying it is purely a matter for the European Commission, it is understood that senior ECB figures are in favour of harmonizing withholding taxes throughout Europe. This would involve the introduction of a withholding tax to be enforced in London. The ECB's motivation to support such regulation could be said to be the same as that behind its determination to restrict the access of UK institutions to the European cross-border payment system, Target. The bank is believed to be extremely uncomfortable with the idea of having the principal money market for its new currency located outside the eurozone, fearing that this would compromise the ability of the ECB to conduct monetary policy.

Bank atlas 1999: The world's biggest banks

Paul Volcker, chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board from 1979 to 1987, chairman of Wolfensohn & Co from 1988 to 1996, now 71, looks back over 30 years at a world banking system which "lurched from one crisis to another" from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, and a global financial system which is "still pretty creaky". He fears for small, vulnerable countries, which are like rowboats in an ocean of volatility. He talked to David Shirreff.

Everyone's memory is different, some have no memory at all. But a handful of deals appear to stand out as those that broke new ground and had even competitors tipping their caps in admiration. No fewer than three people, at exactly the same time, apparently saw ducks floating in the bath and leapt out shouting "Eureka" - the birth of the floating rate note. Few firsts have such a canard attached, but they are all now part of Euromarket mythology. By Rebecca Bream.

After five years on Morgan Stanley's fixed-income syndicate desk in London, would-be rock star Eden Riche is leaving. Riche was one of the guiding lights behind Morgan Stanley's steady rise to the top tier of Eurobond underwriters over the past few years, along with former department head Riccardo Pavoncelli, who three months ago moved to head the firm's media banking group.

Banking in Indonesia has a split personality. In the retail sector foreign banks are introducing state-of-the-art services and buying up bargains among local banks to expand their networks. Local commercial banks are in a much gloomier situation. The costs of recapitalization are rising, influential creditors are resisting attempts to restructure and the bankruptcy court has proved ineffective. Maggie Ford reports