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Issuer: Rheinische Hypothekenbank

Market-watchers may detect just a hint of arrogance when a country not yet six months out of civil war starts eyeing the markets. Even more so when the country's new leaders have consistently directed their vitriol at powerful governments and organizations such as the US, the UN, the IMF and the World Bank. But Laurent Kabila, president of the new Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been dropping some heavy hints of late.

Take a trip to Moscow and you might come away with the impression that AKA Bank is one of Russia's largest financial institutions. A huge advert for the bank bears down in passport control outside Sheremetyevo airport and also appears on the back of cloakroom tags at the Bolshoi theatre, accompanied by the slogan "the customer is king at our bank" - a concept new to anyone accustomed to the Byzantine ways of Russian banks.

The first time I come to Hong Kong I check myself into the Mandarin and go out to meet this promising young shipowner called CH Tung, I sell him on a new way of financing his fleet, and this is the original Junk Bond.

In both roles, Shashenkov will be exploiting his talents as a western-educated Russian who can talk to foreign and Russian bankers and investors on their own terms. Such Russians are in big demand by the country's banks.

Last month's announced merger of bulge-bracket firm Salomon Brothers with brokerage Smith Barney creates something bigger than Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. But the chairman of its parent, Travelers Group, may have overreached himself as he triggers another culture clash on Wall Street. By Michelle Celarier.

ABN Amro is not one house but many. Its interests across the globe include auto leases in Brazil and Japan's biggest foreign bank. But it has achieved this position in seven years without making either headline-grabbing mergers or hiring high-flyers. Instead, its universal banking business is a patchwork of different names. Through all the expansion, the bank's culture remains distinctly Dutch and every decision is pondered by its eight-man executive board. Chairman Jan Kalff is the man who holds it all together.

When the Choksey dynasty sold its stake in India's leading paint company, it unleashed a drama fit for a Bollywood movie, embroiling foreign securities firms and a UK multinational in a tale of intrigue, betrayal and family feuding. Steven Irvine reports on India's first hostile takeover bid.

MeesPierson never sat happily within ABN Amro, and nobody was surprised when the venerable Dutch merchant bank was put up for sale last year. Now new owner Fortis faces the challenge of accommodating the bank - and motivating its restless managers before the current trickle of departures turns into a flood. Antony Currie reports.

When one of Scandinavia's major international companies wants to launch a bond or share issue it turns to a global player like Morgan Stanley - not to a local bank. Most Nordic banks concentrate on smaller companies and retail banking. But their ambitions are growing, and with privatization gathering pace and a single European capital market looming, the region's banking sector is consolidating rapidly. Robert Minto reports on the race to become Scandinavia's first truly regional bank.

The Kalff interview

Issuer: SBC Glacier Finance Series 1997-2