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Hans de Gier, chairman and chief executive of Warburg Dillon Read, didn't mince words at the grand opening of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Canary Wharf on June 1. Batting third in an impressive line-up of speakers, he warned that the FSA's approach to regulation risked "embodying the worst of both worlds: high-level principles interpreted and applied separately from detailed rules designed on a one-size-fits-all basis".

Captain Euro to rescue Europe's ailing identity! That's the hope anyway. Captain Euro, a euro-currency cartoon hero, and his attractive female partner Europa were launched by Twelve Stars Communications on the internet last month (www.captain-euro.com).

It's a sign of the times when a bank gives up a banking licence to a department store and buys a life insurer. But that's what ING Barings has done in Chile. Focused on corporate finance, ING Barings decided it didn't need a banking licence and approached local retailer Falabella about a deal.

Can Europe produce a top-tier global investment bank? The British have proved they can't. BZW and NatWest Markets were disasters and though they have spawned successful offshoots, Barclays Capital and Greenwich NatWest are to British investment banking what Greg Rusedski is to British tennis - technically British, actually North American. Bob Diamond and Tom Kalaris are ex-CSFB and JP Morgan respectively, and NatWest bought Chip Kruger and Gary Holloway's Greenwich Capital whole.

The financial markets have never stood still. But rarely have they moved as quickly as they do today. The winners of all our awards by product sector are facing the same forces. Globalization is driving the market and firms are responding by consolidating. Take a careful look at the winners. They are sure to be very different next year.

Awards of Excellence

Is it time for foreigners to cut their losses and get out of the Thai securities business, or is it a unique buying opportunity while business is depressed? As part of a global retreat from equities Barclays Capital has sold its 49% stake in Bangkok Securities only 18 months after purchase. But Merrill Lynch executives are excited about its new venture Merrill Lynch Phatra Securities which links it with one of the country's leading institutions, Thai Farmers Bank.

Issuer: Russian Federation

The savage drop in oil prices and a populist presidential candidate have given investors in Venezuela the jitters. But, as Bill Hieronymus reports, the scaremongering might just be going too far.

June 17 1998 is a date that will stick in the mind of Bob Diamond for a while. Not because his speech, '"Give me credit baby", A European bank's perspective on the importance of credit research', went down so well at Euromoney's latest Global Borrowers and Investors Forum - though his was one of the wittier and more provocative offerings. No, the chief executive of Barclays Capital is more likely to remember his debut as a catwalk model at his firm's well-attended party at London's trendiest new hotel, the Hempel.

"Caspian has never been in better shape to take advantage of market conditions in the whole of its history." So said Caspian Securities' founder, Christopher Heath, speaking to Euromoney in March of this year. Four months on and Caspian, the investment bank dedicated solely to emerging markets, is no more.

Awards of Excellence