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Macquarie Bank is a rare type of investment bank. It has made returns on equity of over 20% for 10 years by constantly moving into new business areas such as property securitization. Steven Irvine meets its managing director Allen Moss - a man who eschews ostentation and wears pens in his pocket - and head of infrastructure and asset group Nicholas Moore.

So farewell, then, Max Chapman, the banker who got closer to the top of a Japanese financial institution than any other westerner, and who resigned last month to spend more time enjoying his Arizona ranch and his personal fortune estimated to be $100 million.

Taiwan's stock market paused for breath when local finance house, Pan Asia Bank, released its grim 1998 financial results. Pan Asia is too small to affect the Taiwanese banking sector at large but investors and analysts are worried that the size of Pan Asia's losses, NT$6.2 billion ($194 million), combined with an 8% overdue loan ratio, indicate that the Taiwanese banking sector could become the next victim of the Asian downturn. A total collapse is not forecast but deterioration in the sector's overall health is on the cards.

Mix telephone evangelism with telephone banking and you have... Bank of Scotland's latest direct banking venture. The bank already has a UK operation in partnership with a supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, but it has chosen a more controversial partner for the US in the form of Marion "Pat" Robertson.

Our ground-breaking annual European credit research poll ­ appearing for the second time and based on responses from an ever-growing number of investors ­ continues to generate fascinating results. Investors are embracing corporate, high-yield and asset-backed bonds. And they read analysis from a broad range of banks. Merrill Lynch does notably well in high yield. Research by Rebecca Cicolecchia.

After so many years of gloom is there at last a glimmer of light in Nigeria? Following February's presidential election, the country's prospects for inward investment and economic stability have seldom looked brighter. Recent activity in the capital market may hint at economic improvement ahead. But fearsome problems remain and fast-track growth is still some way off. Philip Moore 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.

A puny equity market, a handful of government bonds and a stalled privatization programme. What on earth could interest portfolio investors here? The answer is the long-term view. Kazakhstan, surrounded by basket cases, is trying to sell itself as a safe-haven for medium and long-term investment. By David Shirreff