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Privatization and a new chairman of the stock exchange are spearheading the growth of the Egypt's capital markets. Rebecca Bream reports

Africa - for long an economic graveyard - is attracting more interest than ever before,spurred on by a new legal framework and a slowdown in Asian development. Project-finance lawyers are leading the way. By Christopher Stoakes

The consolidation process that has been reshaping the Italian banking system for the last three years reached a climax on March 21, when four of the five top banks in the country announced their intentions to merge following hectic negotiations.

The fall of German finance minister Oskar Lafontaine is bullish for German financial assets, but only in the short term. Euroland remains a slow-growth region. So, after a brief rally, I reckon the euro is set to weaken again against the US dollar, moving towards parity. The European Central Bank will now be much less reluctant to cut interest rates in order to fend off EU recession. There's no justification for maintaining real rates of 2% to 2.5% when real GDP growth in the euro zone is sub-par and slowing and inflation below 1% and falling. Short rates could go 50 to 75 basis points lower by the year-end. That will help German Bunds and equities, which have underperformed the EU average by over 10% so far this year. That performance gap will narrow quite quickly.

Bond Trading Poll: Emu shuffles the rankings

The big thrust of privatization in Spain is almost over and domestic and foreign investment banks must trim their strategies to cope. Most are confident that private and family-owned businesses seeking listings will provide lucrative business but competition will be fierce. Jules Stewart reports.

Credit Research poll results: Moving down the credit curve

As credit research burgeoned last year there probably were analysts who could command seven-figure salaries. Demand is still high but supply is catching up. The best research houses are formalizing their approaches and a pecking order is developing. Rebecca Bream looks at what's on offer.

Goldman Sachs has apparently managed to get itself out of a spot of hot water in Thailand after issuing a research report which dragged the finance minister into a row with a leading newspaper.

Turkey: Sustaining the unsustainable

Ex-JP Morgan banker Peter Woicke is the new chief at the International Finance Corporation. He will also be responsible for guiding the World Bank's work with the private sector. He talks to Euromoney's James Smalhout about his plans.

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