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After so many months of nervous promises that the euro would herald a new era of bond issuance and credit awareness, bankers can hardly believe it. Volumes in the first quarter have been huge. Europe's investors are forsaking the safety of government bonds and placing big orders for corporate paper. In this new market everything is up for grabs. Market practices are ill-defined, pricing is uncertain and the league table results are wide open. Peter Lee reports.

Most people who meet Alexandra McLeod, Bank of America's new European head of corporate banking, have trouble placing her accent. Americans think she's British; the English assume she's from North America. In fact hers is the perfect transatlantic background for the bank's senior officer in Europe.

Last August's banking crisis in Russia had a differential effect. Big players heavily committed to the government bond market were hardest hit, smaller banks with less exposure not only survived but have picked up new clients. Ben Aris reports

Public Pfandbriefe sold by German mortgage banks are a familiar sight in international capital markets. But less well-known is what's swimming around in the underlying pools of collateral - and how the issuers earn their money. Another Orange County in the making? Marcus Walker investigates.

There aren't many real ex-rocket scientists for hire, but another area investment banks might look at is nuclear engineering - a skill that's becoming less sought after these days. Merrill Lynch's affable new hire Dante Roscini spent five years designing nuclear power plant before dwindling enthusiasm for the nuclear industry prompted a rethink. After business school he ended up at Goldman Sachs in 1988.

Thailand's economy remains mired in recession and the banking sector is still groaning under the volume of bad debts. But the evidence of a turnround is growing. A new bankruptcy law should give banks confidence to extend new loans; foreign banks have injected new capital into the banking system; the best Thai borrowers are finding ways to issue new debt; and, perhaps most important of all, the Thai people's famous optimism is returning. Gill Baker reports.

The advent of the euro has prompted banks to reorganize their bond trading and provoked a new scramble for supremacy. Deutsche comes out top for trading euro-denominated bonds in Euromoney's annual bond-trading poll. Research by Miranda Crowell. Report by Hannah Wilde.

Euroland Municipal Bonds: New city states

Privatization: Keep the state out of business

It's just over two weeks since Márcio Cypriano was named president of Banco Bradesco, Latin America's largest private-sector bank. He's relaxed about it, often chuckling as he formulates an answer. Márcio Artur Laurelli Cypriano's laid-back attitude should be helpful in an environment in which currencies and the rules of the game change frequently. Referring to the Brazilian government's disastrous attempt to make an 8% controlled devaluation of the real on January 13, followed by the currency's collapse when it was allowed to float on January 15, Cypriano says: "In 50 years, we've had 19 currencies and indexers. Many times the indexers are confused with a currency."

Euroland Municipal Bonds: New city states

Country Risk: In search of a safe haven