Understanding risk is everything for a banker. And risk can take many forms. This month, The Banker introduces a new listing, the Credit Risk 500 that focuses on providing core information on the bond markets. What is the tightest credit in the market? What is the worst performing bond, what is the most volatile? The listing provides an overall measure of the fair value of bonds, a hugely useful tool in today's tough markets for all players - banks, investors, traders and issuers.
And in two key interviews The Banker's Karina Robinson talks to Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, about global markets, strategies and disappointing relations with the US, while in Hong Kong she discusses the future of the special administrative region with financial secretary Antony Leung.
In Europe, we examine the increasingly prickly relationship between the City of London and the UK's Labour government and, in our continuing focus on financial capitals, we look closely at Milan and its growing role as Italy's fashionable financial centre. We also review Rabobank's fall from grace and the Dutch bank's dice with Enron while in France the ongoing tryst between Crédit Agricole and Crédit Lyonnais takes another curious twist.
Further east, Slovakia establishes the foundations for success and bullish Russian corporates move into mergers and acquisitions.
In New York, Federal Reserve Bank president, William J McDonough, outlines core issues in corporate governance while we note the strong demand on Wall Street for independent research firms. In foreign exchange, we balance the roles of electronic trading and those of trusted advisers.
In Asia, we follow the slow progress of the foreign banks in India, the efforts to reinvent Hong Kong and Pakistan's post-election prospects.
Elsewhere, we look at the latest trends in securities lending, views on the latest proposals on the restructuring of international sovereign debt and the increasing focus of corporates on cash management. While in retail we assess the impact of mobile payments on banks.
In the Middle East, we enclose our Top 100 Arab banks listing and consider the opportunities available for Gulf banks despite the prospect of a war against Iraq. Also, we look at the attractions of Lebanon and Jordan for regional financiers.
And in Africa we review changing attitudes at the recent New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) meeting.
In addition, we include two supplements, one that addresses the implications of the Basel II capital adequacy accord and one that examines the potential of smart cards.