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Since the beginning of the international financial crisis the Turkey premium has gone up and the availability of credit has declined, leaving many banks with liquidity problems. Foreign investors in Turkish stocks and bonds have fled, joining the general stampede from emerging markets.

Marketing strategies in the newly competitive Italian banking sector are becoming increasingly bizarre - the latest ploy is a lottery linked to a bond issue that offers Porsche cars as prizes.

Global interest rates are falling, and will fall dramatically. Alan Greenspan has already cut rates by 0.5%, with one surprise cut in between meetings of the Federal Reserve. And the Fed is going to cut some more this month.

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September's successful flotation of wine producer Federico Paternina reflects the IPO potential for family-owned companies in Spain. Although recent volatility in the stock market has slowed the pace of change, many other small to medium-size companies are poised to go public in response to increased global competition. Jules Stewart reports

Too many consultancies offering their services these days? No more niches to find? Not according to Rob Heyvaert, a 34-year-old financial entrepreneur from Belgium. Having already set up and run a software business, and having had a stint at IBM, he's now returned to running his own show. In April this year he started canvassing for capital, and partners, to help develop his new business, the Capital Markets Company, or CapCo.

While taking flak over job losses and cost-cutting, senior bankers claim their measures will provide shape for future growth. It's now becoming clear how this will look with emerging-market operations closing while the euro and private equity take the limelight. Peter Lee reports.

Many market participants in Asia reckon the region is overbroked. Nomura is more sanguine, continuing apace its recruitment drive. Its latest hiring is veteran research star Bill Overholt to head Asian strategy.

It's a tough time for issuers in the Eurobond markets. So tough that only the big agencies and supranationals are getting much of a look in. Even they, though, are having to bend to the wind, issuing at wider spreads, making quasi-private placements and reopening existing bonds. Are nervous investment bankers offering them poor value? Marcus Walker reports.

Those wiseacres who say there is no such thing as systemic risk have been proved right again. Look, no global meltdown, no market chaos of Herstatt or even Black Monday proportions.

Article 64 of Turkey's banking law, which can be invoked to supervise ailing banks, provides sweeping authority over shareholders, including firing the general manager and the board and making demands for a capital injection. But in practice article 64 interventions have ceased to have any meaning. The government cannot or will not get the shareholders to improve the balance sheets of their banks. And the banks have no qualms about being placed under article 64 since the identity of banks affected is not made public.

Citibank has had correspondent banking relations with Turkey since World War II. It had an interest in Turkey but not a substantial business until 1975 when a representative office was opened. After this, outstanding loans grew very rapidly until 1977 when Turkey defaulted on the so-called CTLDs (convertible Turkish lira deposits). Under this scheme Turkey had attracted foreign-currency deposits with high interest. In the following three years Citibank played a prominent role in rescheduling the CTLDs and, more important, together with a small group of international banks that included Banca Commerciale Italiana, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS, providing the trade finance that allowed Turkey to maintain international trade. These banks ended up intermediating virtually all of Turkey's trade.