Credit Suisse's Madrid-based FIG team's input into Bank Zachodni's all-share merger with KBC's Kredyt Bank has allowed Santander to build the market presence it wanted in Poland without putting the squeeze on its capital ratio.

Given the size of its economy and the rapid pace at which it is growing, Nigeria has a good chance of establishing an international financial centre to rival Johannesburg – Africa's only IFC. The west African country is already close to creating the legal framework necessary, but overcoming the negative perceptions of many international banks will prove a tricky obstacle to overcome.

The governor of the National Bank of Georgia has to tailor his maintenance of local financial stability to a banking sector with high levels of foreign ownership and aspirations to expand across the Caucasus region and beyond.

Competition among Nigeria’s biggest banks will become even fiercer in the coming few years thanks to the creation of two new top-tier lenders in the wake of the country’s financial crisis. But the head of First Bank, the largest lender in Nigeria, is undaunted by the emergence of these rivals. 

After deciding that a pure high-yield deal was prohibitively expensive for UK leisure company Center Parcs, RBS helped investors get comfortable with a whole business securitisation structure that other banks were giving a wide berth.

Bolivia is about to tap the international capital markets for the first time in a century, a move which its finance minister says reflects its impressive economic performance of the past few years.