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Bond markets face one of the biggest changes yet as bankers prepare for the coming of the euro and with it the creation of a huge, pan-European capital market. It's going to change the way a lot of borrowers raise capital and broaden the outlook of European investors. In the meantime, borrowers, particularly corporates, have been taking advantage of liquid markets, low interest rates, and investors' increasing appetite for risk. By Peter Lee

The world's top 20 borrowers raised more than $250 billion in the international markets last year. Euromoney talks to the top borrowers to find out how they plan to meet their funding requirements for this year

As the fear of interest rate rises threatens virtually every market in the world from sovereign bonds to high-tech stocks to emerging market securities investors may no doubt be wondering where they can seek refuge.

It will be hard to beat last year's crop of deals. Here are some of the best.

The Bank of England's discussion paper released in November on the supervision of credit derivatives rather dampened market enthusiasm reflected in a report by the British Bankers' Association (BBA). But the effect should be only temporary.

Investment banks see Asia as the next big market, so the largest ones have all established derivatives operations in the main centres. That means fierce competition ­ but it's a fight for relatively thin demand. Regulators in some countries restrict use and local exchanges are undeveloped. But growth has come in surrogate markets and such instruments as covered warrants in Hong Kong. Antony Currie reports.

The governments of Asia have never trusted financial markets. They view stock exchanges as little better than Chinese gambling dens, and find it hard to comprehend that bond, foreign exchange and money markets are any less dominated by wild speculation. As a result, the regulatory and tax environment for financial markets in Asia is still rooted in the 1960s. Banking systems are rigged in a such a way that banks are forced to provide cheap finance for industry, and allowed little room to develop. The biggest Asian economies have progressed remarkably in technical and managerial competence in the past 20 years, but their financial industries remain appallingly backward.

At the Kazan Universal Exchange in the Tatarstan capital, 1,500 km east of Moscow, traders can find virtually anything for sale from flowers to furniture to plumbing supplies. But upstairs at the exchange itself, the one item they will be hard-pressed to find are corporate stocks.

Brokers' analysts in Asia have been arrested for taking their duties too seriously. But that's a minor reason for the poor quality of the region's research. Corporate disclosure is limited and accounting standards are poor. And analysts are young, inexperienced, harassed by overmighty corporate finance departments and intent on careers outside research. By Michael Steinberger.

Big Blue is a big bull on China. Former Citibank man, Kent Price, now general manager for banking at IBM in Asia Pacific, has written a report forecasting an ATM revolution, with IBM at the forefront.

Hillboot Intergalactic Asset Management,

For several months, lawyers have been fretting over the prospective introduction of Emu. Why? Christopher Stoakes explains.