In the current market environment, not every bank chief executive feels relaxed talking to the press unless it is part of a public relations strategy to calm frayed nerves among investors. But Stan O’Neal, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, was happy to talk to The Banker’s editor Brian Caplen about the volatility in the markets and the firm’s longer-term strategic positioning as well as social issues arising from globalisation, such as inequality.

Roustam Tariko, owner and founder of Russian Standard Bank (and Vodka), tells Karina Robinson of plans to tailor his banking model to current realities.

The lessons of the losses experienced by Lloyd’s of London in the 1980s were overlooked by banks embroiled in the subprime crisis, who recklessly issued vast amounts of collateralised debt obligations. By Chris Skinner.

Dresdner Kleinwort is ahead of the advisory pack in terms of deal value in European electricity mergers and acquisitions this year. The bank’s utilities and natural resources team talk to Edward Russell-Walling about their recent success in one of the most difficult deals in cross-border history, Enel’s takeover of Endesa.

As the world enters a new era of diverse wealth distribution, global financial institutions must reflect the change.

The current debacle over Northern Rock is going to lead to a complete rethink on markets and the way they are governed.

With the subprime crisis in the US causing worldwide reverberations, we asked a group of leading economists to consider whether a soft or hard landing was in prospect. They also considered sovereign wealth funds, the renminbi and the roles of the IMF and World Bank.

Too little is made of the fact that financial market institutions have been underprepared to measure, manage and price high-impact risks; indeed decision makers are actively rewarded for underestimating risks associated with low-probability events. Nassim Nicholas Taleb (left)and George A Martin (right) explain.

Felipe Larraín assesses whether policies by certain Latin American populist governments could undermine present price stability and usher in a return of the high inflations of the 1980s.

In India, long-term value is being left on the table as environmental, social and governance issues are ignored. But these issues will be increasingly important competitive differentiators, writes Dan Siddy.