He studies synthetic biology, develops mobile games for emerging markets with a member of pop group Black Eyed Peas, is an advisory member of NASA’s Ames research centre and serves as counsel to the University of California in his free time. By day, he is chief technology officer for Citi Transaction Services. Meet Antonio Benjamin.

When Bank of America-Merrill Lynch hired Alexander Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS last year to front its Europe and emerging markets (excluding Asia) operations, it caused a stir. As he explains to The Banker, the move has been mutually beneficial.

UBS undertook one of the more radical post-crisis changes of strategy in 2012, and its head of European advisory, James Hartop, explains how the new structure enables his team to move beyond pure merger and acquisition work.

Trinidad and Tobago’s central bank governor discusses the population’s low financial literacy, movement in the country’s financial sector and the plans to stimulate the country’s stock exchange. 

Jamaica has turned a corner since its recession in 2010, say finance minister Peter Phillips and central bank governor Brian Wynter, thanks in no small part to its plans to restructure the country’s public debt and attract more cross-border investment.

JPMorgan has sought to maintain hard-won expertise even during the near closure of European equity capital markets in late 2011 and early 2012. Its regional co-head of equity capital markets explains how continuity has set it up well to capture a nascent revival of new issues.

Portugal’s minister of economy talks about his plans to get the country "back to normality" after its bailout in 2011. 

In his spacious office high above Tbilisi, Georgia’s newly elected prime minister – and wealthiest citizen – Bidzina Ivanishvili talks about his plans to boost investment, to mend the relationship with Russia and to manage a difficult political cohabitation.

Colombia might boast one of the strongest economies in Latin America but the country's finance minister, Mauricio Cardenas, is more than aware that its economic growth – largely dominated by its energy and mining sectors, which benefit only a small proportion of the population – needs to be diversified and its rewards better distributed.