The remittances market is too big to ignore, but with more providers entering the market and with banks struggling to respond to new regulations, how can banks stay relevant?

Growth rates and returns on consumer lending in Russia are remarkable, but the market demands increasing levels of sophistication to ensure success.

The management quality of Ukrainian banks is gradually improving, but they continue to face difficulties from legal and political uncertainty, with some foreign-owned banks already giving up the struggle.

Portugal's banks have solved capital shortfalls and improved their funding positions, but finding sustainable sources of loan and revenue growth is proving more difficult.

As the political stand-off in Georgia between the new prime minister and president shows no sign of abating, the country’s economy is showing resilience and its banks are eyeing opportunities to strengthen growth by tapping into the country's unbanked population.

Renewed access to capital markets for both the sovereign and the two largest banks has prompted hopes that Ireland will be able to exit multilateral support programmes successfully by the end of 2013.

With a series of scandals shaking confidence in large listed banks and the financial crisis badly damaging their profits, European interest in co-operative lenders has been revived. Is this a passing phase – a knee-jerk reaction to a difficult couple of years – or is it the beginning of a larger, more permanent shift in sentiment?

While many of the US's local lenders were hit by the subprime crisis, most of the larger regional banks are now back in growth mode. The Banker profiles four such banks.

At a recent round table hosted by The Banker, a panel of industry experts discussed the changing nature of technology and innovation with regards to economic and regulatory influences. The experts also considered how these factors shape the competitive landscape and create opportunities for co-operation. The event, the last in a four-part series, was sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, but independently written and edited.