Although there is talk of Rusal floating, its finance chief Vladislav Soloviev tells Edward Russell-Walling the aluminium giant does not need to tap the capital markets just yet.

Mladjan Dinkic, Serbia’s minister of finance, is readying the banking sector for EU accession. Ben Aris reports.

Bulgaria’s foreign-owned banks are attempting to speed up the transition to EU accession, bringing a huge growth in retail banking. But there are still problems to resolve, Tom Blass reports.

Russia is beginning to tackle more fundamental problems with its economy. With advice from Germany’s KfW, it is boosting its banking system. Ben Aris reports from Moscow.

Russian banks continue to dominate our Top 25 Central and Eastern Europe listing, reflecting both the paucity of foreign-owned banks in Russia and the lack of locally owned banks in central Europe as a result of a large number of acquisitions by foreigners.

Given the current dynamic growth in central and eastern Europe, private equity firms with good local relationships and the patience to wait for the right deal can net decent profits, says Joanne Hart.

The Georgian banking sector is growing and there is healthy competition. Bank of Georgia CEO Lado Gurgenidze is looking at what lies ahead for banks in the Caucasus. James Hydzik reports.

Moldova is a land-locked country of about 4.2 million people. Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2004 was about 32bn lei ($2.6bn), a growth of 7.3% in real terms over 2003. Major contributors to real GDP growth were agriculture (3.4%), services (2.6%) and manufacturing (0.9%).

As Romania’s banks cash in on the surge in consumer borrowing, the central bank, concerned about a rising current account deficit, is placing stringent curbs on foreign currency lending. The measures are proving highly controversial.

After a bear market and fund scandals, The Bucharest Stock Exchange’s market capitalisation is in the ascendancy. But more privatisation is necessary if the gains are to be consolidated.