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Western lawyers and financiers have laboured hard and long to achieve Middle Eastern financings which comply with Islamic law. A recent legal innovation may hold the key.

Why should a UK bank become a tax collector for the Germans? That is the not-so-hidden agenda that international bondholders see behind a proposed EU directive on taxation of savings.

The news of an alliance between the sleepy London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Börse, its biggest European rival, surprised the market. Eventually the partners hope to bring in other bourses. That pleased the Dutch but the French felt slighted - they'd been courting the Germans too. The devil will be in the detail: the Germans let slip that they thought their settlement system would win out, much to the chagrin of London's CrestCo and the LSE's derivatives counterpart Liffe. So will it be London-on-the-Main or Frankfurt an der Themse? Antony Currie reports.

A troubled government that swaps domestic debt for foreign currency-denominated debt would seem to be inviting catastrophe - isn't that what dumped Asia in the mire? But Russia has done exactly that. Alex Jurshevski argues that this and other measures are just what Russia needs.

Choudri Mueen Afzal, Pakistan's new secretary of finance, talks the language of reform - thinner government, improved tax collection and a sharper financial sector. People like him will carry Pakistan to the next stage of development

Asia's currencies may be worth less than they were, but in two Asian city states a new currency is on the rise - the electronic variety. As Steven Irvine reports, central bankers want to encourage e-cash but they are nervous about its implications.

InterSec 250: The changing face of asset management

InterSec 250: The changing face of asset management

With its tall ancient trees and exquisite lawns studded with marble antiques, the Nakkastepe headquarters of Koc Holdings look like an Ottoman aristocratic home from which the lord of the manor is absent on a prolonged journey. Situated on a tall hill on the Asian side of Istanbul, far from the madding crowds of Europe's noisiest city, the walled compound exudes an old-world peace.

Our annual survey of asset managers outside the US, in conjunction with InterSec Research Corporation, shows the continuing dominance of Japanese and Swiss institutions. But industry consolidation is propelling firms such as Credit Suisse and Zurich up the rankings. Report by Jim Sirius.

Could it be that Chase is not as solid as we had all been led to believe? The US bank has been eyeing acquisitions recently, leading everyone to assume that it is in rude financial health. But events at last month's five-kilometre run, the Chase Corporate Challenge at Battersea Park in London, suggested otherwise.