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So, the succession at Chase is decided. Bill Harrison will inherit a bank riding high in the league tables, doing deals in the darkest days of the crisis and basking in the respect of its peers. How did Tom Labrecque and Walter Shipley do it? By rethinking the bank's whole approach to risk management and being able to say no to marriage proposals. But if it is to continue on this roll and become a true one-stop shop, Chase needs to do a deal sooner or later. Michelle Celarier reports.

Why has the merger of Chase and Chemical succeeded while others have not?

Mix telephone evangelism with telephone banking and you have... Bank of Scotland's latest direct banking venture. The bank already has a UK operation in partnership with a supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, but it has chosen a more controversial partner for the US in the form of Marion "Pat" Robertson.

So farewell, then, Max Chapman, the banker who got closer to the top of a Japanese financial institution than any other westerner, and who resigned last month to spend more time enjoying his Arizona ranch and his personal fortune estimated to be $100 million.

A puny equity market, a handful of government bonds and a stalled privatization programme. What on earth could interest portfolio investors here? The answer is the long-term view. Kazakhstan, surrounded by basket cases, is trying to sell itself as a safe-haven for medium and long-term investment. By David Shirreff

Public Pfandbriefe sold by German mortgage banks are a familiar sight in international capital markets. But less well-known is what's swimming around in the underlying pools of collateral - and how the issuers earn their money. Another Orange County in the making? Marcus Walker investigates.

Pfandbriefe: Germany's secret gamblers

Most people who meet Alexandra McLeod, Bank of America's new European head of corporate banking, have trouble placing her accent. Americans think she's British; the English assume she's from North America. In fact hers is the perfect transatlantic background for the bank's senior officer in Europe.

As credit research burgeoned last year there probably were analysts who could command seven-figure salaries. Demand is still high but supply is catching up. The best research houses are formalizing their approaches and a pecking order is developing. Rebecca Bream looks at what's on offer.

Our ground-breaking annual European credit research poll ­ appearing for the second time and based on responses from an ever-growing number of investors ­ continues to generate fascinating results. Investors are embracing corporate, high-yield and asset-backed bonds. And they read analysis from a broad range of banks. Merrill Lynch does notably well in high yield. Research by Rebecca Cicolecchia.

The EBRD's shareholders demanded that the bank be big in Russia. The investment bankers running the place responded by making deals. The result? €261.2 million ($284 million) of losses last year more than half due to provisioning against the Russian portfolio. New president Horst Köhler says that strategy not volume must drive programmes in future - corporate governance, institution building and lending to small enterprises are his top priorities. But below him not a single head has rolled even though EBRD bankers sat on the boards of Russian banks that went under. Only in a public institution would they get off so lightly. Brian Caplen reports.

Euroland Municipal Bonds: New city states