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Richard Wood's agreeable daily commute consists of a stroll across Prague's St 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.

A potential powerhouse player entered Moscow's brokerage market with the creation last month of Brunswick Warburg, a 50:50 joint venture between SBC Warburg and Brunswick Investment, one of the country's leading independent brokers. The venture could be the first of many, with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch all expected soon to develop Russian operations. Indeed, the changing nature of the Russian market has led some to speculate that no small, independent Russian broker will survive until the end of the decade unless it forms an alliance with a deep-pocketed foreign partner. Moscow has been described as one of the most over-brokered cities in the world, with more than 200 licensed firms chasing a reported daily equity turnover of less than $100 million.

Many banks have been forced out of Euro-commercial paper recently. With margins thin, large volumes are a prerequisite of profit. The prospect of European monetary union has, however, led to rapid market growth. This year SBC Warburg managed to raise market share to 27% of total outstandings. SBC Warburg attributes much of its success to the use of electronic trading in its spot and forward foreign exchange operations, which in turn has enhanced its capabilities in synthetic Euro-commercial paper.

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

Awards for Excellence 1997

A bank can offer a wide range of financial products with the most sophisticated of structures across a host of countries, but if it cannot process the paper and payments they generate, the exercise is useless. That's why one of Euromoney's new awards is the bank best at transaction services.

Awards for Excellence 1997

Since teetering on the edge of bankruptcy early this year amid expectations of being the world's first Brady bond defaulter, Bulgaria appears to be bouncing back. The turning point was the installation of a staunchly pro-reform government in April since when prices across Bulgarian debt markets have rocketed.

On the evening of June 17 Frank Ning appeared very calm. The chief executive of China Resources gave no hint that next morning the newspaper headlines would be trumpeting his company's purchase of 50% of Hongkong Chinese Bank for HK$2 billion (US$258 million). Ning's company has a market capitalization of HK$42 billion, next month it will be rated by Standard & Poor's. Hong Kong's investment bankers say he's the best red-chip manager around. In an interview, Steven Irvine asked: