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BANKING

... and get ready for more bonds?

Asia's crisis brought bond issuance in central and eastern Europe to an abrupt halt. The region's issuers, tarred with the same brush as south-east Asia, have seen their spreads widen dramatically. So what will tempt investors back? And how long will it take? Robert Minto finds out.

January 01, 1998

BANKING

Counting the weeks

It's just under a year until the start of European monetary union, and you would expect banks to be pulling out all the stops. But while they wrestle night and day with the technical details, little is being done to inject some fun into the proceedings. Salomon Smith Barney is leading the pack with its "Countdown to Emu calendar" - displaying the number of weeks left until January 1 1999 - recently erected in the firm's lobby.

January 01, 1998

Buy when the blood flows

When markets crash canny investors seize the opportunity to buy cheap. A few will make huge profits from the turmoil. But it's a risky business. Calling the bottom and selecting recovery stocks is challenging the analysts. No wonder the majority of investors are too terrified to come off the sidelines. Peter Lee talked to strategists about their 1998 plans.

January 01, 1998

Velvet costs are piling up

An easy transition to capitalism is proving a mixed blessing in the Czech Republic. The so-called Velvet Revolution has left many essential works undone. Banks remain in state hands and underegulated markets have encouraged asset stripping and fraud. Then as former prime minister Vaclav Klaus began to get serious about change, his government fell. In the ensuing political stalemate, reform is the chief victim. Nigel Dudley reports.

January 01, 1998

BANKING

The pundit's progress

When Daniel Lian changes his job, the media are sure to follow. When he resigned from the NatWest office in Singapore recently, the permanent Reuters camera, one of only four in the country, also moved out. Sure enough, when he started at ANZ the camera reappeared, enabling his popular television appearances to continue. This is impressive testament to the currency and bond strategist's reputation as a television economics pundit.

January 01, 1998

Caught with their pants down?

Rating agencies have been strongly criticized for failing to spot the Asian crisis. Investment-grade bonds have been downgraded to junk status - but only after problems have appeared and without much warning. For the first time the agencies are having to justify themselves. Are they as good in Asia as they are in the US? Steven Irvine reports.

January 01, 1998

Michel rings a bell

Last National Bank of Boot Hill,

January 01, 1998

Syndicated loans: The big squeeze

For years, bankers have been waiting for the bargain basement pricing in the syndicated loan market to bottom. Now, thanks to the Asian financial crisis and, particularly, the troubles facing Japan's banks, it may finally have happened. The funding premium Japanese banks are paying in the market has widened spreads - and in some cases is forcing deals to be pulled altogether.

January 01, 1998

Opinion

Emerging banks: threat of systemic collapse?

Economic growth in several major east Asian, Latin American and eastern European economies will halt in 1998. Emerging market banks' $550 billion of non-performing loans (probably well above $600 billion if unofficial estimates are correct) may cause a rash of failures or even systemic financial crisis in some countries. Korea, China and Slovakia are among the most vulnerable.

January 01, 1998

Pakistan: Problems paying power bills

Pakistan's power privatization programme was once the jewel in the crown of a country whose private sector was generally underdeveloped and poorly performing.

January 01, 1998

Opinion

The boom in Doom

If you're impressed with the inexplicably long hours your colleagues have been putting in over the past couple of months, ask them what they've been up to. They may be part of the growing number whiling away the small hours playing computer games such as Doom, a virtual-reality shoot-'em-up game of extreme violence.

January 01, 1998

And then there were three

On Friday November 21, when the board of Yamaichi Securities met to discuss downsizing the firm, president Shohei Nozawa stunned board members by proposing instead that it should wind itself up. Andrew Horvat reports on the events leading to the collapse of one of Japan's big four securities houses.

January 01, 1998

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