BBVA may have grabbed the headlines for missed acquisitions but a bank that posts 20% a year profits growth, that pays a top return on equity as well as being a byword for prudence cannot be all bad, as Karina Robinson discovers.

Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungary’s prime minister, tells Karina Robinson how he plans to rein in public spending yet confound the polls and get re-elected .

Although biology is a well-known science, there is a lesser-known science with the a deceptively similar name: buyology. I created this science for banks to deal with the new world of ‘freakonomics’, where everyone is struggling to understand the methods to get customers buying and, in its purest form, buyology is defined as: the science of understanding business relationships.

For ABN AMRO’s pioneering property derivatives team the value of deals is mushrooming, but it is keen that other players enter the market and create greater liquidity. Joanne Hart reports.

Marcel Rohner, the incoming UBS CEO, is inheriting all kinds of problems, most of which are not of his making.

For now, emerging markets bask in glory as they poach quality moniker from ailing developed markets – but a bubble looms.

Labour and environment sidebars are not protectionist, says Jeffrey Schott.

Remaining competitive in the global marketplace requires that Europe lead the second phase of the internet, which will be driven by collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies, says John Chambers.

Jacko Maree, CEO of Standard Bank Group, tells The Banker about the strategy that is leading it to expand into markets well beyond its South African home base.

Swift’s new CEO, Lázaro Campos, talks to Frances Maguire about his plans for Swift in the immediate future and beyond, including regionalisation, courting US institutions and working on the integration of portals.