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No one likes to talk about it, but handling discreet money generated by criminal operations has been a growth area for banks. Now there is a threat to their business. New legislation, better co-operation among enforcement agencies and a flurry of mutual assistance treaties have at least a fighting chance of denting the money-laundering game.

No area of the banking system is immune from fraudsters - not even the security team designed to prevent them.

The level of known defrauding by the international financial community is rising fast and set to take a further leap in London on the back of Big Bang.

Canadian companies are issuing second and third-class paper. Canadian pension funds are buying it, often at inflated prices, because they have no option.

Canada borrows abroad for one reason: to defend its currency. Any ominous creakings in the Canadian dollar's exchange rate have been silenced traditionally by a combination of private placements and public issues. The most famous private placement is due for repayment this month. Five years ago, the government of Canada borrowed $300 million front the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency at a coupon of 16 1/4 % .

It looks as if Canadian authorities, heavily nagged by investment dealers, won't allow the competition that a de-regulated financial system would produce. And by protecting the puny investment dealers, the authorities might switch the whole Canadian securities industry into a siding.

During a recent 12-month period, BAT Industries of London listed its shares on no less than 10 stock exchanges in five countries, partly in the hope of raising its profile in those markets and, ultimately, its stock price. But the British multinational was not part of any stampede. Despite the recent growth of international equity trading, there has been no great rush by companies to seek a listing outside their home market.

Zaiteku's most visible manifestations are the staggering daily volumes on the Tokyo foreign exchange market - up from an average of $2 billion in 1979 to $48 billion today.

Given that an international equity offering can cost a company as much as $250,000, flowback is more than just a disappointment. As Charles Ryder of Barclays de Zoete Wedd put it, "Flowback defeats the object of the exercise.

Fiat got the Libyans out; Deutsche Bank got the d what did the underwriters get? By Peter Lee

It was the largest international stock offering ever launched, and the biggest flop in the Euro-equity market to date. The attempt to sell $2.1 billion of Fiat shares in late September - $1.6 billion internationally and $500 million in Italy -left the underwriters with heavy losses and caused acute embarassment for the lead manager, Deutsche Bank Capital Markets. But it also provided some valuable lessons, and most observers agree that thc debacle will not undermine the continued growth of the international equity market.

Apart from the surge in new internation equity issues, growing innovation in the way stocks are packaged is the most striking feature of the current Euro-equity scene.