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Improvements in infrastructure and a range of legislative controls are attracting foreign investors to Russia's equities market. But can the trading systems cope? By Brad Durham

The Ospel interview

The Ospel interview

As Russia's two largest cities prepare to float their first Eurobonds, Moscow dominates the Russian business and financial landscape. But number two St Petersburg is trying harder. By Craig Mellow

Many derivative exchanges have lost touch with what their customers want most. That is liquidity, but also cheap and efficient processing of trades. Ambitious schemes for linking exchanges over time zones haven't brought this, so over-the-counter business is booming. Andy Webb reports.

In the time perspective of the bond markets, the European single currency is tomorrow, not some 20 months away. Issuers need to attract investors from a wider universe now. One approach is complex instruments that can eventually take on a euro denomination; another takes the plunge into a currency that doesn't yet exist. On the corporate front credit rather than currency is set to be the key determinant of performance. And that means European fund managers are likely to take an increasing interest in high-yield bonds. Peter Lee reports.

Monetary union without Germany, or more precisely without the Bundesbank: that's the prescription of Nobel laureate Franco Modigliani. The Bundesbank has already become the central bank of Europe, Modigliani argues, with its "miserable monetary policy" of high real interests in the face of low investment and rising unemployment. He would like to index central bankers' salaries to inflation and joblessness figures.

"I was 100% an old-timer at Deutsche," says Roman Schmidt. So it surprised everyone when DMG's Frankfurt debt syndicate head announced his departure from the Deutsche twin towers to join BZW.

In an age of specialism corporate spin-offs have an inherent strategic logic. But they are also a potent way of unlocking equity value. Antony Currie reports on the spread of the technique from the US into increasingly equity conscious continental Europe.

It was a fierce contest between rival investment banks with only one winner and no room for the faint-hearted. It wasn't the battle to win the mandate for the next big Eurobond, but the Synergy City Ski-Run in aid of the British Ski Club for the Disabled.

Issuer: Abbey National

London's cab drivers, long known for their forthright views, have recently turned their wrath on the financial markets. The problem is the plans of one black cab radio network, Computer Cab, to list 49% of its estimated value on London's Alternative Investment Market (Aim). At 80p a share, this should raise around £4 million to help pay for a new system called Mobistar, which uses a satellite to track the position of the cabs.