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Some of the bigger players in European equities reckon the single currency isn't a major driver of the sectoral approach - they were heading that way long ago and the real goal is to look at sectors globally. As Emu approaches, though, smaller local brokers will have to adapt to the new ways or go under. Some will sink but others will survive on specialist knowledge, particularly of small and mid-cap companies. Julian Marshall and Sudip Roy report.

A decline in oil prices and a regional economic crash should be bad news for an oil-based economy in south-east Asia. But Brunei is insulated from the worst of this economic turbulence. And this quiet country of 300,000 people is focused on the longer term. Nigel Ash reports

It is rare that the interests of investors and issuers coincide exactly, and when they do they have generally been forced to. That is what has happened in the European convertible market. Right now, this halfway-house hybrid does make sense as a defensive outperformer for investors, and a cheap, flexible funding tool for corporates and privatizing governments. Simon Brady reports.

For Latin American corporates the doorway to international bond markets is now locked and bolted for the foreseeable future. But what about the loan market? According to Eugenia Wilds, head of the Latin American loan syndication group at JP Morgan, the key bank lenders will hold fast in a storm.

Sigma triggers global meltdown

The calm before the storm

It's the only private-sector bank to have retained its triple-A rating. What's more, Rabobank is the only foreign bank to have an office in Wagga Wagga. This cooperative, with 467 member banks in the Netherlands, was viewed as a domestic farmers' bank. But for three years that has been changing. First there were moves into insurance and asset management in the Netherlands. Then, for the past year-and-a-half, Rabobank International has been developing as an investment bank. Antony Currie spoke to Henk Visser, member of Rabobank Group's managing board, and Alex von Ungern-Sternberg, head of global investment banking.

In 1997 Intralinks began providing internet-based document management for capital market deals such as syndicated loans. It claims that electronic dissemination can cut hard costs such as phone, fax, overnight mail, messengers, financial printing and paper by up to 30%.

Luis Cezar Fernandes had planned to retire in two years' time when he turned 55. The founder of Brazilian investment bank Pactual was looking forward to a more leisurely life on his farm. But that was before two crises erupted - the global meltdown that has challenged all Brazilian bankers and the rift inside Pactual that led to staff breaking away to start their own operation and a change in the firm's ownership.

On August 24 when Asian markets were being blighted by Russia's debt default, the Indian government was busy closing a $4.23 billion deal that made investment bankers salivate. Over 74,000 expatriate Indians in over 30 countries bought up five-year Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs) denominated in dollars, sterling and Deutschmarks in what was the single largest debt offer out of India. The dollar bonds carried a coupon of 7.75%, a spread of 225 basis points over US treasuries. The State Bank of India, India's largest commercial bank that issued the bonds on behalf of the government, clinched the sale in just 20 days.

Meet some of the world's biggest investors. The 10 largest Japanese life insurance companies control assets of more than $1 trillion. But with a protected market and no shareholders to answer to, they have always done things a little differently to the rest of us. Now as insolvency fears and foreign competition grow, that is starting to change. Jack Lowenstein reports.

French banks are starting to restructure and consolidate. But they remain obsessed by the domestic market and are more concerned with market share than return on equity. All that will change with the euro. Rebecca Bream reports.