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News of a planned merger between Bankers Trust and broker Alex Brown came in a rush. In fact, though, the firms had long recognized their complementarities and had first started talking about a link-up in 1993. Peter Lee reports.

Dresdner Bank's roving diplomat Hansgeorg Hofmann struggled for 18 months to keep Kleinwort Benson intact after its takeover by Dresdner. But rival board members in Frankfurt were forcing a tortuous management structure on fledgling investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. That led Kleinwort's long-standing chairman Simon Robertson to quit in February. Now the gloves are off, and Dresdner's board, including Hofmann, have turned authoritarian. Expect some bloodshed. By Laura Covill.

Were membership of Emu solely a question of economic performance, Denmark would enter from the outset on January 1 1999. After a harsh fiscal consolidation programme that has been going on for over a decade, Danish state finances are now in better shape than in almost any other European country.

Two bulls in two pens

Are banks facing a rough ride on the information superhighway?

Rarely has a deal triggered such animosity: joint lead managers who couldn't bear the bookrunner; unreturned telephone calls; alleged breaches of a gentleman's agreement. That's if you believe the members of the syndicate. But if you believe the bookrunner, the other banks are "squawking" in their own dream world. Amid such squabbling, the $1 billion debut by the central bank of the Philippines had to be pulled at the last moment - leaving behind recriminations that will sour the Asian capital markets for years. Steven Irvine reports.

When Alan Smith returned to work he took no chances. The former head of Jardine Fleming finished his six months of gardening leave on April 1. Not wanting to look a fool he started a week later.

The hard lessons of recession mean that debt financing is going out of style in Finland, where an invigorated stock market and a brace of privatizations offer a boost for equities. William Essex reports.

Apart from some well-publicized swap operations that may have turned sour, Belgium's treasury has reduced the kingdom's cost of borrowing dramatically. But, as Charles Piggott reports, potential losses on contracts signed in the early 1990s have raised important questions for all sovereigns trying to balance market confidentiality with public accountability.

Even in the age-conscious Euromarket where the best and the brightest, like policemen, seem to get younger, Bill Winters is a classic example of a fast-track career. Still only 35, he runs all of JP Morgan's fixed-income activities in Europe. Given Morgan's surge in primary underwriting and inherent strengths in swaps and derivatives, this makes him one of the most important individuals in the Euromarket. "Bill Winters' position is not dissimilar to Jimmy Forese at Salomon Brothers in London but Bill carries the Morgan calling card which gives him a definite advantage," comments a former Salomon managing director.

FX Poll 1997: Taken aback by a leap forward

On February 28 NatWest Markets announced that it was suspending a trader after a £50 million loss on interest rate options. Two weeks later the bank suspended four more people, including two risk managers, and the hole had grown to £85 million. What went wrong? And what are the lessons for risk managers everywhere? By David Shirreff.