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Central America: A whole new way of thinking

Portugal: Bigger should be even better

Central America: A whole new way of thinking

For international equity investors these days, working without an array of technological equipment is inconceivable. When Art Lerner began actively to invest in 1969, though, his main tool was the telephone. Even then it could be frustrating. "Back when I started, the companies we visited were usually shareholder unfriendly. There was very little information or research material available - some annual reports didn't even have an English version. You could ring up a company in, say, the Netherlands and have the CFO say to you: 'What do you care for? We run the company, we make money, and that's that.' Of course, they were salaried staff, and had no incentive to improve the share price."

The contrasting economic fortunes of the core of Europe and those at the edge of, or outside, the euro area persist. The consensus view has been that euroland economic growth will begin to accelerate this year and that there will be a slowdown (or even recession in the case of the UK) in the periphery.

It's one of the most famous addresses in the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective hero Sherlock Holmes had his home at 221b Baker Street in London and for many tourists travelling to London a visit is high on the list.

Given the number of banking and commercial agreements written under English law, bankers and corporate lawyers need to be aware of new litigation rules in the UK. By Christopher Stoakes

HSBC faces a bizarre lawsuit over the rebranding of subsidiaries. With 80% of the new HSBC signs already up in the UK outside former Midland branches, a rival financial institution, HFC Bank, has begun litigation against HSBC claiming it is damaging its franchise and stealing its hard-earned brand name.

Monumentum aere perennius - a monument more lasting than bronze. That is probably the last piece of Latin readers of Euromoney will have to endure outside the legal page - just one, small difference between the worlds of 1969 and 1999. When Euromoney was founded in June of that year, every senior banker in London, certainly, and probably Frankfurt, Paris and Milan too would have read the works of Horace - the poet who believed his work would last longer than the statues of Rome's dignitaries.

The leaders of 12 of the world's biggest financial institutions look back on their careers, reflect on how the financial markets have changed and spell out their visions of the future. HSBC's John Bond, Angel Corcóstegui of BSCH, Lloyds TSB's Peter Ellwood, ABN Amro's Jan Kalff, David Komansky of Merrill Lynch, André Lévy-Lang of Paribas, ING's Godfried van der Lugt, Bankers Trust's Frank Newman, Marcel Ospel of UBS, Joseph Roby of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Pedro Luís Uriarte of BBV and CSFB's Allan Wheat spoke to Euromoney

Banking in Indonesia has a split personality. In the retail sector foreign banks are introducing state-of-the-art services and buying up bargains among local banks to expand their networks. Local commercial banks are in a much gloomier situation. The costs of recapitalization are rising, influential creditors are resisting attempts to restructure and the bankruptcy court has proved ineffective. Maggie Ford reports