Search results for

Solid performers that buck the trend

Solid performers that buck the trend

Solid performers that buck the trend

Ecuador's bankers are scratching their heads wondering how to design products to accommodate a radical new 1% tax on capital transactions, which from January will replace traditional income tax. The tax will be withheld from bank customers whenever a deposit is made into an account or for a fixed-term investment, or when a cheque is cashed. Customers will not be charged, however, when money is withdrawn from an ATM. It is feared that the tax will lead to further distortions - the financial system already has a huge quantity of transactions that don't always provide added value but which are operationally necessary - and to tax avoidance by conducting transactions outside the system, says analysts.

How well we remember those early days when we helped you to meet the Herculean characters of the discount market in El Vino's and how much we admired the speed with which you took into account the day's liquidity shortage in your consumption of gin and tonics before lunch.

Internet IPOs were once regarded as highly risky. Now they rank among the best-received offerings in the global marketplace. The rapid rise in internet use has driven the perception that service providers will be worth a lot of money, and now everyone is trying to get a piece of the action. Yet the euphoria surrounding recent flotations of internet stocks may be hiding a less rosy picture for hi-tech issuers as a whole. Peter Lee reports.

At long last, lawyers are going to have to start writing in plain English - or are they? By Christopher Stoakes

The December edition of Euromoney focuses on Asia - the best Asian companies, the most talented bankers and commercial figures and the best banks. These are the crisis busters, the people and institutions whose success or failure will spell not just a renaissance in their own countries but will also provide a spur to economic growth elsewhere in the emerging and developed markets.

Munich, Sunday November 15

Blue chips of the future