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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.

Sir,

Malcolm Turnbull - lawyer, writer and, more recently, investment banker - seems to have the knack of profiting from difficult times. In 1987 he co-founded an investment bank four months before the world financial markets collapsed. The crash had caused much of corporate Australia to become disillusioned with their existing financial advisers, leaving the door open for Turnbull. "A new bank like ours, which had given no bad advice (only because no one had asked for it) was able to offer a fresh prospective. We got off to a good start."

Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

Advised by the World Bank, Poland is reforming its pension system. If successful, the new pension structure could become a model for Western Europe. Isabel Vallejo reports

Early last month, just after the downbeat IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, a beleaguered group of once pre-eminent investors gathered at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York to discuss the prospects for their business. In such bleak days, these men and women, managers of some of the best-known funds invested in emerging-market debt and equity, had one overriding question to confront. Can emerging markets any longer be considered a viable asset class? Euromoney, which organized the conference, listened eagerly to the debate.

Investment bankers devoted hefty resources in 1997 and 1998 to promoting and gearing up for a European high-yield bond market. Following the Russian crisis, it collapsed. But proponents of European junk won't let a catastrophic market crash deter them. They argue that plummeting values could be the market's making. Spreads that have widened beyond all economic justification have finally made high yield sexy for the end-investor.

When Meriwether invited Union Bank of Switzerland to eat a special dish with him at high table, it seemed too good to be true. It was. Why did a bunch of Swiss bankers rush in where the rest of Wall Street feared to tread? By David Shirreff.

The sale of ABN Amro's merchant banking subsidiary, MeesPierson, has long been expected in the Netherlands. Selling it to the Dutch-Belgian group, Fortis Investments, has raised a few eyebrows, but is it part of a wider strategy that Dutch financial institutions are following to position themselves for the coming of the euro? Antony Currie reports.

Credit analysis based on equity prices is the basis of models built by KMV Corporation to log expected default frequencies (EDFs) for single companies and credit portfolios. Is this state-of-the-art or already passé? Euromoney editor Simon Brady grills KMV CEO David Nordby, and managing director Peter Crosbie, on the models' vices and virtues.

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.