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After the favourable economic climate of 1997 when the Netherlands took the lead in the economic upturn in continental Europe, preliminary data for 1998 shows that the international situation is taking its toll and Dutch economic growth is returning to trend. What has happened and has the "Dutch miracle" come to an end?

It was before the wave of strikes that hit France in December that I glided into the Gare du Nord on one of France's ultra-smooth, ultra-expensive (to the taxpayer, not the traveller) TGVs. I had two questions begging answers. First, would the Franco-German axis in Europe hold? And second, would France meet the Maastricht criteria for a European single currency by the end of 1997?

Allianz has a 100-year history of managing insurance assets. Internationalization of capital markets, fierce competition in asset management and the arrival of the euro have prompted the company to set up a third-party investment firm. Is Allianz Asset Management ready for the challenge ahead?

The end of Jardine Fleming

Romania will default on its foreign debt without assistance from the IMF and World Bank. This is unlikely to be forthcoming unless a politically induced log jam on economic restructuring and privatization is overcome. At last the government has recognized the crisis. Rebecca Bream reports.

Chicago Exchanges: Working against the grain

When Frank Quattrone left Morgan Stanley in 1996, nearly everyone thought Morgan's technology franchise would go with him. But the Wall Street firm's edge in California wasn't blunted. Quattrone's magic has now faded, and all competitors bar one seem to be floundering. Michelle Celarier reports

Ulrich Gygi is the driving force behind Swiss privatization. He was the chief architect of the Swisscom offering, Europe's biggest initial public offering (IPO) last year, which succeeded when most other deals were being pulled. As head of the Swiss treasury, where he's spent most of his career, Gygi has also had the task of deciding how much gold the central bank can afford to give away to good causes in the aftermath of the Nazi gold controversy. He is thought to have designs on the top job at the central bank.

Citicorp's chairman, John Reed, is now 59. Though he looks likely to remain in place while the merger with Travelers Group is work in progress it won't be too long before his succession is again debated. When it is, one name certain to figure prominently is Victor Menezes, who with Michael Carpenter now has the job of knitting together the corporate banking businesses of Citicorp and Travelers' Salomon Smith Barney.

At the end of December a select group of Euromarket veterans gathered under the shadow of Credit Suisse First Boston's tower at Canary Wharf. There were there to watch Bank of England governor Eddie George unveil a monument to perhaps their most outstanding colleague. Michael von Clemm, former chairman of CSFB and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets died on November 6, 1997 at the age of 62.

Many of South America's business families are weary. They have survived wars, military dictatorships and debt crises but the arrival of foreign competition is proving the final blow. Lacking an heir both willing and able to take on the modernization task, they are selling out - often to private equity funds in deals brokered by corporate financiers. The latest to start the process is Bunge International, the giant soyabean to branded foods conglomerate, started by European immigrants to Argentina at the end of the last century. So far it's been a painful retreat in which shareholder disputes long hindering Bunge's performance have carried on over a recent asset sale.

Ukraine is at the cross-roads. Too limited reform has left it on the brink of default, opposition parties demanding a return to central planning. Either the country embraces market economics, and wins IMF support, or it rejects them, and invites economic collapse. Reunion with Russia might then be the only option.