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Ghana is trying to prove it can combine democracy with economic stability. When military rule ended, inflation control and public finances fell apart. Since 1997 the situation has improved. Against this volatile background, banks have to adapt continually. Can Ghana graduate away from World Bank tutelage, and even be accepted into international capital markets? James Rutter reports.

And the winner isn't...

Awards for Excellence 1999

Il gatto e' fuori dal sacco

With jumbo syndicated loans generating large fees - $600 million for Olivetti's deal alone - syndicated lending is suddenly a big revenue earner for investment banks. But how much old-fashioned lending business is there left for the market's smaller players? Jack Dyson reports.

For over a decade after 1987, when it first topped the US bond league tables, Merrill Lynch enjoyed unfettered growth, profitability and renown as the world's premier securities firm. Its mix of retail distribution, dependable income and worldwide expansion became the model for big investment banks to aspire to. Then, last year, things started to go wrong. Merrill's bond traders made huge losses, acquisitions in Japan and Canada produced sorry results, US asset managers put in a weak performance and clients defected from Mercury Asset Management. Most worrying, internet stock traders began to encroach on Merrill's retail business. For the past few months, the firm has licked its wounds, fended off merger rumours, and laid new plans. Now it's coming out fighting. Antony Currie reports.

Henry Grunfeld died on June 10, a few days after celebrating his 95th birthday with his family and close colleagues. He had maintained his regular attendance at his office at Warburg Dillon Read, and his interest in the business and activities of the firm, until the day before his death.

No bank in Poland, it seems, wants to marry the acquisition-hungry Bank Handlowy, and the Polish treasury hasn't helped as matchmaker. But the once-proud foreign trade giant desperately needs a source of retail deposits. It missed out on Bank Pekao, and the smaller Bank Zachodni. What scraps are left that the foreigners haven't eaten? Oonagh Leighton reports

Asset-backed Finance: Europe takes to securitization

The government's intervention to prop up the Hong Kong stock market last year was necessary, says finance minister Donald Tsang - to keep the elephants of international capital from treading on Hong Kong's small and delicate pond. Our poll finds that most of Hong Kong's financial leaders agree. Tsang speaks to Steven Irvine about who was to blame for the speculative attacks, how the state holding will be unwound and the impact of mainland Chinese equities on the island's market.

Alexander Nelson Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport.

Every chief executive in Europe should heed the lessons of Telecom Italia's defeat. No company is beyond attack and the art of how to fight a hostile raider must be learned, or relearned, urgently. Olivetti's was a daring stroke, inspired by Roberto Colaninno's ambition and by a group of advisers each believing their improbable target was attainable. But its assault was as blunt and simple as a battering ram.