Investors are falling over themselves to buy bonds issued by Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank. Edward Russell-Walling explains why.
Russian banks are not always synonymous with credit quality. When Gazprombank came to market in September with a 10-year bond, however, the issue was more than six times oversubscribed. There are Russian banks, and Russian banks.

Consolidation in the Bosnian banking sector has accelerated further.

As the Yukos affair fades into a one-off event, both domestic and foreign investors are showing renewed interest in Russian equities and IPOs.

Buoyant bond and stock markets, as well as legal complications, have discouraged project finance growth. But, as Ben Aris reports from Moscow, the sector is predicted to grow swiftly in the near future.

The cranes have arrived. With high oil and gas prices, rising personal incomes and political stability has come the real estate bug.

Kazakhstan is one of the leading lights of the ex-Soviet Bloc, with such well-developed banking and pension sectors that they are searching for somewhere to invest their money.Ben Aris reports from Almaty.
The trees that cloak the buildings in central Almaty provide only limited protection from the hot midday sun, but Kazakhs window-shopping in the new Ramstore shopping mall at the top of the city’s slope beneath the Tien Shan mountains are keeping cool.

Hungary’s OTP tops the list as central European banks enjoy good times and foreign players join the party.

There are major issues to iron out for EU emerging markets in adopting Basel II, warns the EBRD’s Piroska M. Nagy.

Although the economy is in bad shape, Croatia remains a magnet for foreign banks, simply because Croatians like to borrow and save.Tom Blass reports.