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April is the cruellest month, wrote TS Eliot. Chinese investors may beg to differ. They found May pretty cruel. In the past month the Beijing authorities have declared war on China's two principal stock markets, rattled by alleged speculation. This had carried the Shanghai domestic share index to gains of 55% since January, and pushed Shenzhen up 75%. By the time Beijing decided to act the two markets were on P/E ratios of nearly 50 times historical earnings. But at first Beijing's usually subtle hints had no impact on a market convinced of its own immortality.

With Russian issuance still in its early days, any new bond is a source of interest and speculation. The City of Moscow's debut didn't disappoint. Charles Piggott reports.

Despite the hardships caused to African countries by the 1980s' IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programmes, there have also been benefits. Market-determined exchange rates, interest rate liberalization, privatization, private sector budget deficit management and the removal of price controls have injected new life into African business. Philip Eade profiles some of the continent's listed companies

"The emergence of the German public-sector borrowers has probably been the most important single feature of the international primary debt capital markets during the 1990s," says the head of syndication at one of the bulge-bracket US investment banks. Few people would argue with that.

HSBC Holdings has held on to the top spot in this year's rankings, while mergers have propelled Credit Agricole and Wells Fargo up the table. Elsewhere, Japanese banks have fallen while American banks have made a steady climb.

At this year's Euromoney borrowers and investors conference, one of the bond market's most respected and outspoken heads of borrowing will be notably absent from the borrower panels and roundtables. Mark Cutis, former treasurer of the EBRD, has jumped back into the banking world, whence he came following stints at Merrill Lynch and Dresdner Bank. After six years at EBRD - he originally committed to stay for just 18 months - he now sits on the management committee of Nomura International, running its international market division.

Who remembers the "Abbey habit"? The slogan which brought savers flocking to deposit money may still be there but, as with the Prudential's "man from the Pru", times and tastes have changed. Today Abbey National is a full-service bank with total assets of £124 billion ($202 billion). Last year Abbey reported pre-tax profits of £1.17 billion. In terms of assets it is the fifth-largest bank in the UK with a market capitalization of £13.2 billion.

Bank atlas 1997: The world's leading banks

Israel is awash with companies - many in the high-tech sector - eager to make equity and debt issues. Not surprisingly, foreign banks are beginning to establish local bases. The snag for the local capital market is that much of the listing is being done abroad, particularly on Nasdaq. Nick Kochan reports on efforts to bring some of it home.

Borrowers: Borrowers start to play a strategic game

A special report prepared by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell