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Controversial rules designed to monitor and control borrowing by private and public-sector companies are being finalized by Egypt's ministry of economy. Senior government officials say the measures will prevent the economy from becoming vulnerable to an Asia-style collapse. If they aren't blocked by another government department, the new regulations, the Sphinx Protocol, should be published in coming weeks. The ministry of economy's plan would create a database of all current and potential bond issuers. Advance details of issues would be required, including the volume, maturity, coupon, currency and market of issuance. The reporting system will also be used to control the quality and quantity of borrowings.

Currency unions have come and gone but this is by far the biggest and boldest experiment of them all. The euro will wrench market share from the dollar as an international and reserve currency. It will trigger a gigantic rebalancing of investmetn portfolios. It will stimulate growth in equity markets and labour mobility. Yet it also threatens to tyrannize the economic management of individual states and pitch Europe towards the imperative of a single economic policy. In the following series of articles, writers and economists describe euroland, what forces will drive it, and what impact it will have on banking, finance and international markets.

The world's biggest company, General Electric, has passed another milestone. On July 15 its market capitalization exceeded that of the entire Hong Kong stockmarket by $10 billion. At the close of business it was worth $306 billion. GE is covered by 42 analysts, Hong Kong by 498 analysts. So does that make Hong Kong overbroked or GE overvalued? SI

Investors are betting the euro will be strong. But maintaining the value of the euro in the long term will bring pain. Europe isn't ready for that, argues David Roche.

Issuer: Orange

A dramatic rebalancing of portfolios will make euroland a region without currency risk and will precipitate huge cross-border flows. But how will that rebalancing be done and by how much? It's all about sectors, correlation and liquidity. Peter Lee reports.

A last-minute deal commits Europe to bailing out former French colonies; Jacques Chirac rails against speculators; a loophole in the Maastricht treaty allows Europe to impose exchange controls to protect itself from international capital flows. Coincidence? Bernard Connolly doesn't think so.

The euro is the ultimate fixed exchange rate: without currency fluctuations to take the strain of economic adjustment, the tensions in euroland will be severe. Europe's citizens will blame Emu for their troubles, argues Pedro Schwartz.

Will Emu collapse under the weight of its own contradictions? Ian Cormack argues that it will not. Liquid bond markets and massive capital flows will create a virtuous circle unlocking the flexibility of Europe's labour markets.

Out goes Napoleon, in comes King Arthur as Wim Duisenberg factors in the views of his five new colleagues on the European Central Bank directorate. Whose dogma will prevail at this latter-day round table? Laura Covill reports.

The most important event in modern financial history is upon us. In the afternoon of December 31 the official euro conversion rate will be announced. At that moment, 11 national currencies will effectively cease to exist and core Europe will have a single currency.

Last National Bank of Boot Hill, London, EC2