The listing of Swiss commodity trading and mining group Glencore caused a few headaches for joint global coordinator Morgan Stanley. However, the impressive list of investors it helped secure shows that there is a big global appetite for commodities.

Hit hard during the financial crisis, the Romanian government was the first in the EU to successfully complete an International Monetary Fund loan programme, without even needing to draw the whole loan. Secretary of state for finance Bogdan Dragoi explains his government’s strategy.

Egypt’s banks faced the most trying of conditions early this year with the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent economic collapse. But Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, head of the Commercial International Bank says that businesses should thrive in a more open political system.

Co-operative Financial Services's integration and change director, Phil Lee, tells The Banker how it is upgrading its core systems in the midst of a merger with Britannia Building Society.

Issuing in Greece in the current climate is a brave move, but that did not stop telecoms company OTE entering the market earlier this year, thus posing quite a challenge for joint lead manager BNP Paribas.

Cesar Purisima, the finance secretary of the Philippines discusses tthe changing role of the Asian Development Bank and recent changes in the Philippines' financial environment.

Nomura's global head of IT infrastructure tells The Banker how a mammoth and swiftly completed datacentre migration project has saved the bank about £9m a year.