THE QUESTIONS:
1. What makes your country attractive to investors?
2. What are the economic prospects for your country over the next three to five years?
3. How do you foresee the financial sector in your country changing?
4. What role will your bank play in your country’s future development?
The Banker’s 80th Birthday Question Time celebrates eight decades of financial reporting by engaging with some of our most authoritative core readers. CEOs, chairmen and managing directors of leading banks all over the world, from developed economies to emerging markets, have come together in these pages to express their views on and present their insights into local economic growth, monetary and fiscal policies, regulation and consolidation of financial markets and other key issues. Our top interviewees not only fill the role of ambassadors highlighting growth potential and investment attractiveness of their countries, but they also explain how the local financial sector is changing and comment on present and future challenges facing them and their sector.
In an increasingly globalised financial world, regulation, competition, consolidation and product sophistication are all themes that confront bank leaders to some degree, whatever their geography.
In particular, their comments confirm the trend towards stronger consolidation in Europe, with larger groups catering for regional markets. In Asia-Pacific these will be continued liberalisation for developing financial markets and increased competitiveness for the well-established financial centres. New local or international players will increase competitiveness in the Middle East and African regions, and improved regulation and product offering will define a promising future for the western hemisphere’s financial markets. COUNTRIES
