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Ulrich Gygi is the driving force behind Swiss privatization. He was the chief architect of the Swisscom offering, Europe's biggest initial public offering (IPO) last year, which succeeded when most other deals were being pulled. As head of the Swiss treasury, where he's spent most of his career, Gygi has also had the task of deciding how much gold the central bank can afford to give away to good causes in the aftermath of the Nazi gold controversy. He is thought to have designs on the top job at the central bank.

Ukraine is at the cross-roads. Too limited reform has left it on the brink of default, opposition parties demanding a return to central planning. Either the country embraces market economics, and wins IMF support, or it rejects them, and invites economic collapse. Reunion with Russia might then be the only option.

Prospects for the beleagured Mexican banking sector have improved following an agreement on restructuring that many analysts feel goes beyond expectations

European Equities: The great equity rebalancing act

Poll of Polls: Warburg's excellently average performance

Poll of Polls: Warburg's excellently average performance

John Heimann, chairman of the global financial institutions group at Merrill Lynch and a member of the firm's executive management committee, takes up a new position next month. After 14 years at Merrill he is retiring from Merrill to become chairman of the Financial Stability Institute at the Bank for International Settlements.

Allianz has a 100-year history of managing insurance assets. Internationalization of capital markets, fierce competition in asset management and the arrival of the euro have prompted the company to set up a third-party investment firm. Is Allianz Asset Management ready for the challenge ahead?

The Czech Republic's voucher privatization left old managements in control of companies still owned - now indirectly - by the state. Though not the only reason for the country's transformation from regional leader to laggard, the mishandled sale of state assets weighs heavy on the economy. Will the government get the sale of the big state-owned banks right? Rebecca Bream reports.

Last month the grain floor at the Chicago Board of Trade voted in a chairman after its own heart. To the big banks trading on the Chicago exchanges it looked like another setback for the modernization they crave. It's not just electronic trading that's at issue, but also cooperation - and possibly mergers - between Chicago's three derivatives exchanges that may prove vital to stave off competition.

Robert Sexton of Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn, Paris, explains how debt-equity swaps could help foreign creditors seeking recovery of Russian loans given the precedent of the US junk bond crisis

As the founding member of one of the strongest and most successful global alliances in the airline industry, KLM is again the first to take leadership in the creation of a global airline system. Today, with a second global partnership in place with Alitalia and a firm business strategy focusing on the company's core activities, the Dutch airline looks set to consolidate its leading market position