India is a more cautious bet but, as one company chairman says: “India is an idea whose time has come.” International banks need to make sure they have their India strategy as well mapped out as their strategy for China. In this month’s Asia section, Karina Robinson reports from New Delhi on India’s future prospects.
Russia’s prospects have revived along with oil prices but the boom there stretches much further than that. It goes into M&A, IPOs and corporate bonds, as we report in our central and eastern Europe section, together with articles on Ukraine and a supplement on Serbia, the host to this month’s EBRD meeting. We also run a Top 100 of EBRD transition country banks.
Finally in our BRIC set, we come full circle by examining, in our Americas section, the growing relationship between Brazil and China. We also carry a report from last month’s IDB meeting in Okinawa.
This month’s issue of The Banker contains our usual crop of interviews and articles from the industry’s most senior players. Daniel Bouton, CEO of SocGen, is featured in Karina’s Kolumn; Tito Mboweni, governor of the South African Reserve Bank pens Viewpoint; Agenda is an interview with CSFB’s global head of financial sponsors, Harold Bogle, on the growth of private equity; and in Techvision, HSBC’s head of technology services Fergie Williams explains how the bank’s IT is now organised as a shared services company.
When contemplating the BRIC countries, it is important to remember that there are some key emerging market players falling outside of that definition. Pakistan, with a population of 154 million, is one. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shaukat Aziz – himself a former banker – and central bank governor Ishrat Hussain are among those interviewed for this month’s article on Pakistan’s economy and banking sector. Other countries featured this month in supplement form are Portugal, Turkey and Qatar.
In capital markets, we look at the rise of hybrid capital in Asia and how European issuers are targeting the region. Our Team of the Month is Deutsche Bank’s Latin American debt team, which has taken the bank up the underwriting league table. Our annual FX survey looks at the issues in the interbank market.
In cash and securities services, we study securities lending and in technology we explore how banks use data. A special virtual roundtable on corporate and social responsibility, a key issue for banks and companies these days, completes a very rich diet.
