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September's successful flotation of wine producer Federico Paternina reflects the IPO potential for family-owned companies in Spain. Although recent volatility in the stock market has slowed the pace of change, many other small to medium-size companies are poised to go public in response to increased global competition. Jules Stewart reports

Oyak Bank is unusual in two ways. It is one of the few banks in the world wholly owned by an army and it is the only Turkish bank run by an American. But that American, Mark Foley, considers himself to have gone more than a little native.

In the wake of the global economic crisis there are victims on both sides. Investors have excess cash but are afraid to move it. Issuers need to raise capital but are afraid to sacrifice their hard-won reputations with issues that flop.

Shielded from the full force of international competition, suckled by a government with a voracious appetite for debt, banking in Turkey has long been a very profitable business. But the country's big family-owned banks know this state of affairs can't last for ever. They are investing in technology and broadening their business mix. And any foreigner with a $2 billion appetite for Turkish risk might find a welcome in at least one bank boardroom. Metin Munir reports.

Until a few months ago syndicated lending was a borrower's market. Banks were desperate to do deals and offered seductive terms. Now the bankers have stopped calling. They're sitting back and revising the rules of the game. From now on they want it played on their terms. Michael Peterson reports.

If 145 simultaneous sell orders are booked, suspicions are bound to arise.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, skills were short and contacts were everything. Putting together what they could of both, two young Russians, Vladimir Potanin and Michail Prokhorov, built from scratch Unexim, the country's largest private bank, as well as Interros, a leading financial-industrial group. This rapid growth has led rivals to accuse Unexim of acting unfairly and to wage a propaganda war against the bank. Despite Unexim's success little is known about its inner workings or about the style and strategy of its founders. Recently the bank agreed to open its doors to Euromoney in a way it has never done before. Brian Caplen reports.

Article 64 of Turkey's banking law, which can be invoked to supervise ailing banks, provides sweeping authority over shareholders, including firing the general manager and the board and making demands for a capital injection. But in practice article 64 interventions have ceased to have any meaning. The government cannot or will not get the shareholders to improve the balance sheets of their banks. And the banks have no qualms about being placed under article 64 since the identity of banks affected is not made public.

Since the beginning of the international financial crisis the Turkey premium has gone up and the availability of credit has declined, leaving many banks with liquidity problems. Foreign investors in Turkish stocks and bonds have fled, joining the general stampede from emerging markets.

Too many consultancies offering their services these days? No more niches to find? Not according to Rob Heyvaert, a 34-year-old financial entrepreneur from Belgium. Having already set up and run a software business, and having had a stint at IBM, he's now returned to running his own show. In April this year he started canvassing for capital, and partners, to help develop his new business, the Capital Markets Company, or CapCo.

Those wiseacres who say there is no such thing as systemic risk have been proved right again. Look, no global meltdown, no market chaos of Herstatt or even Black Monday proportions.

Russia's freeze on payments to creditors overseas raises the usual questions asked when a country defaults. Christopher Stoakes gives some answers.