Close adherence to international regulatory standards has protected Madrid's financial system from embroilment in the subprime market that has so badly harmed rival centres New York, London and Paris. Yet Spain's flailing economy must be tended to if Madrid is to rise as a dynamic alternative. Writer Rodrigo Amaral
Jacob Zuma, South Africa's new presidentSome of the world's most powerful leaders and investors met in Cape Town last month for the World Economic Forum. They discussed the impact of the global downturn on Africa and how the continent could use it as an opportunity to build a platform for growth. Writer Charlie Corbett in Cape Town
Press conference on co-operation between the Latin American development banks (l to r): Enrique Garcia, CAF president; Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB president; Jyrki Koskelo, IFC vice-president for Europe, central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and global financial markets; and Pamela Cox, World Bank vice-president for Latin America and the CaribbeanThe slump in capital markets activity and a decline in cash flow has pushed Latin America's multilateral development banks to prominence as the biggest and most robust lenders in some of the region's principal credit markets. Writer Jane Monahan in Washington, DC
The banking sector across emerging Europe is varied, and although even its most dynamic economies are being impeded by the slowdown, forecasts suggest they have the growth potential to bounce back, reports UniCredit Group's global economics, fixed income and foreign exchange research team.