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Which banks will weather the storm?

Finland's membership of the EU's exchange rate mechanism looks imminent and the country will be well placed to join monetary union. But Finnish banks, just coming out of recession, will need to cut costs and probably merge to keep their heads above water in the new, more competitive environment. John McGrath reports

Two approaches to expansion

Six months into European monetary union there's a crisis, but this has little to do with the euro. It's a classic banking fiasco kicked off because too many people believed in one man's Big Idea. Sound familiar? David Shirreff reports.

Striking out for the sectors

Bill Harrison is not the most orthodox chief executive you will come across in the City. The new boss at BZW speaks with a strong Birmingham accent and refers to telephoning people as "giving them a bell".

Credit Suisse First Boston's acquisition of BZW's equities and corporate advisory divisions at the start of the year was a quite coup for the Swiss bank (and cheap at twice the price the bank paid £100 million). At a stroke, the Swiss bank had suddenly become one of the top equity brokers in the UK, ranking second so far, up from 15th last year.

A new generation of managers has taken over at BZW following David Band's untimely death in March. New chief executive Bill Harrison is a tough, no-nonsense British merchant banker. In his first major interview Harrison explains his view of the bank's future, his player-coach approach and why BZW isn't Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. But, first, we profile the efforts of the other man on the touchline, the smooth American Bob Diamond, and his dramatic first three months as head of the firm's most turbulent division, fixed income. By Steven Irvine

John Meriwether, whose hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) came so spectacularly unstuck last month, is celebrated for an almost bizarre ability to remain calm in the face of huge risk. His quiet, intensely private demeanour has long belied an almost obsessive hunger for ever bigger positions. "If you feel good about the market," he would tell young traders at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s, "then get serious."

Britain's leading corporate banker needs a drastic solution to the problem of low margins. Rolling up 200 of the best loans and selling them as bonds is certainly that. But it has invoked a ferocious response from corporate treasurers and competitors. Brian Caplen reports on the controversy surrounding the deal

Kazakhs with their backs to the wall

Latin America 100: The region's biggest banks