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Some unusual rumblings have been heard from Singapore recently. In July the resignation was announced of Koh Beng Seng, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and reckoned to be the country's hard man of financial regulation. Then the prime minister persuaded him to withdraw his resignation and asked him to join a committee on banking deregulation. Behind the scenes, a furious debate is raging about the kind of financial centre Singapore should be.

We've called them the big-game hunters - the men who track down the juiciest debt deals and clinch them. How do they do it in the burgeoning Asian market? Sure, they need to know what their banks can deliver and what their clients need. And they must be able to convince borrowers that transactions will fly in the market. Beyond that there's a whole slew of intangibles that can be summed up as establishing relationships. Having friends in high places helps, but you may have to do more than play golf with them - chess, pinball and even the odd bout of karaoke can be required. It also pays to be able to talk about anything, from Japanese ethnohistory to Korean youth soccer. Steven Irvine spoke to some of Asia's finest exponents of talking on their feet.

Richard Wood's agreeable daily commute consists of a stroll across Prague's Charles Bridge while he looks at the castle and swans and thinks about what he has to do that day. "It beats the tube," he says.

Wang Qishan is president of People's Construction Bank of China and chairman of cicc, its investment-banking joint venture with Morgan Stanley. His banking group is the third biggest in China by assets and employs half a million people. He was formerly a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China and is very highly regarded by China's economic chief, deputy premier Zhu Rongji - so much so that he's shortlisted to be the next central bank governor. He spoke frankly to Steven Irvine about Morgan Stanley, the joint venture and investment banking.

Asset privatized: Svyazinvest

Managing director Asia, BankBoston

Rather than demonizing George Soros as the prime mover of the run on their currencies, Asian central bankers need to ask themselves hard questions. Why did the hedge funds go on the attack, and who provided the funding? Do they realize what banks are up to, have they decided which of these activities are legitimate, and are there any effective means of restraint? Laura Covill reports.

The biggest contest in the 21st century will be to win in China. Whether it's IPOs, M&A or mutual funds, growth forecasts for China put all other markets in the shade. But the world's biggest potential market is also the toughest to crack. What's the right strategy? Steven Irvine looks at how the major investment banks are positioning themselves.

Did Bankers Trust buy Alex Brown to make itself more attractive to a potential buyer? And should NationsBank buy First Chicago to give it more bargaining power in any future merger talks, possibly with BankAmerica? As America awaits its biggest-ever banking mergers, such are the advanced strategies under discussion. All will become clear after the final round of mega-mergers, reports Peter Lee.

Regional governments are taking back control of local businesses in the name of saving jobs and preventing foreign speculators from taking over. While some observers regard this as an undesirable move, things could be worse. Renationalization, the bogey which haunted Russia's first few years of market reform, has melted away as the Kremlin moves to sell whatever mineral fortunes it has left. But relocalization is just gathering steam.

International investors this summer gained their best chance yet to invest in Transcaucasia, the region of the CIS separating Russia and the Middle East, with the start of voucher privatization in Azerbaijan. The country's programme is more open to foreign investment than almost any other in the CIS and lets investors take exposure to an economy that is growing at more than 5% a year.

Belt-tightening is not easy, particularly when the belt is an imported fine leather one with a high-priced Louis Vuitton label. As the IMF urges financial self-control, Thailand's elite are finding the austerity package hard to swallow.