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Operas at the Arena, day-trips on beautiful Lake Garda and romantic walks under Juliet's balcony. These could be the new pastimes for IMF staff and officers in a few years, if the mayor of Verona succeeds in getting the organization's HQ moved there from Washington.

Taiwan's stock market paused for breath when local finance house, Pan Asia Bank, released its grim 1998 financial results. Pan Asia is too small to affect the Taiwanese banking sector at large but investors and analysts are worried that the size of Pan Asia's losses, NT$6.2 billion ($194 million), combined with an 8% overdue loan ratio, indicate that the Taiwanese banking sector could become the next victim of the Asian downturn. A total collapse is not forecast but deterioration in the sector's overall health is on the cards.

Goldman Sachs has apparently managed to get itself out of a spot of hot water in Thailand after issuing a research report which dragged the finance minister into a row with a leading newspaper.

Turkey: Sustaining the unsustainable

Ex-JP Morgan banker Peter Woicke is the new chief at the International Finance Corporation. He will also be responsible for guiding the World Bank's work with the private sector. He talks to Euromoney's James Smalhout about his plans.

Just got home from a hard day's work? Why not heat up some leftovers, make a cup of coffee and - during those few idle seconds - punch a few buttons on the microwave door and get your bills paid.

The IFC and World Bank have spent much of the last two decades at each other's throats. The appointment of Peter Woicke as head of the IFC and a managing director at the Bank should change that. It should also help increase emphasis on private-sector funding. James Smalhout reports.

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Euroland's biggest banks? Assets (€bn)

A new symbol for promoting shareholder rights has emerged in Russia - the toilet roll. The lavatorial necessity graced Russia's TV screens nearly everyday in the last week of March. It was part of an ad campaign by American investor Kenneth Dart in his battle against Russia's second-largest oil company, Yukos.

After so many months of nervous promises that the euro would herald a new era of bond issuance and credit awareness, bankers can hardly believe it. Volumes in the first quarter have been huge. Europe's investors are forsaking the safety of government bonds and placing big orders for corporate paper. In this new market everything is up for grabs. Market practices are ill-defined, pricing is uncertain and the league table results are wide open. Peter Lee reports.

The Philippines began to woo a new set of investors in February with the launch of a euro-denominated bond. The issue is not without its critics and it was made amid mixed reviews from bankers of the country's efforts to pull itself out of the Asian crisis. Gill Baker reports.