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When the Asian crisis struck this summer one investment bank was destined to appear more exposed than others - Peregrine. The Hong Kong-based firm employs 1,700 people in 15 Asian countries. After Asia's currencies began to slip in July so did Peregrine... at least if its rivals' rumours are to be believed. With confidence waning it looked as if the "fast and agile" bird had gone into a terminal tailspin. Then, as ever, its wily boss Philip Tose pulled something out of the bag. Steven Irvine reports on Peregrine's riposte to the gossip, interviews Tose about Zurich's new stake in the firm and looks into the unravelling of the firm's regional operations.

Credit derivatives will transform the way banks manage their balance sheets. Once banks adopt a true portfolio approach, they will create a fully liquid secondary market in credit risk. Before then, demand for loans, asset swaps and credit derivatives will surge as proprietary traders and hedge funds cut up the credit curve. Mark Parsley reports.

Simon Meadows is known for striking terror into CSFB traders at the bank's Canary Wharf headquarters in London. But this particular Friday morning he is relaxed, smiling and talkative. Perhaps it's because he is about to go scuba diving in Grenada. Or perhaps it's because he can look back on a good year, having added Russia, Lebanon, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania to his list of sovereign clients.

There's going to be ferocious competition in the European bond markets post-Emu. Domestic players still have a stranglehold but global houses are making inroads. The best opportunities will be in countries where capital-market deregulation has been slowest, as Gavin Gray reports.

Financing China's mega-dam

Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

Pulling away from the pack

What do Dresdner Bank and the Republic of Romania have in common? Both are trying to enhance their public image, battered by recent reports of high-level infighting and financial impropriety by senior officials.

Two years ago, sitting in the traffic jams with their bmws and mobile phones, Bangkok's brokers knew which side their bread was buttered on. Now things are looking pretty grim for erstwhile brokers in the Land of Smiles, with sandwich-making and taxi-driving among the new-found occupations for former employees of the finance and securities companies, 58 of which have had their operations suspended by the Bank of Thailand.

It is always with a dubious sense of national pride that you announce your capital city has the most expensive rents in the world. According to a recent survey by international estate agents Knight Frank & Rutley, Seoul now holds the honour.

Last National Bank of Boot Hill

Blue chips are ripe for conversion