Chuck Prince has stated his intention to change the way Citigroup does business. He should start with senior level recruitment.

CSFI’s Banana Skins survey shows bankers fears for the future as regulation takes a stranglehold on their institutions, pushing up costs, increasing complexity and playing havoc with their profits.

Three editorial specials are brought to you this month by The Banker’s staff. They are the business of the financial institutions groups (FIGs) that now account for 50% or more of revenues in the major investment banks; corporate social responsibility (CSR), which has become a critical part of every bank’s thinking; and our special coverage for the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) annual meeting in Okinawa in April.

President George W Bush is expected to focus on economic policies during his second term – inaugurated on January 20 – compared with his first administration, in order to achieve his government’s ambitious Social Security and US tax reform plans. To this end, Mr Bush also needs to fill several top-level, economic policymaking positions.

Private capital flows to the 29 most prominent emerging markets expanded significantly in 2004, rising by almost one-third to an estimated $279bn, more than double the figure for 2002.

Qatar, the world’s fastest-growing economy, has announced plans to establish a new financial centre based on a different model to other regional financial centres in neighbouring Bahrain and Dubai.

Belgium’s KBC will buy its shareholder Almanij in an operation that will almost double its free float and simplify its current structure. The new KBC Group NV will increase the number of shares in the Euronext stock market and will have a simpler holding and operational structure.

In the International Year of Microcredit, the UNDP’s Mark Malloch Brown encourages more commercial banks to take up microfinance.
Microfinance is helping to transform the lives of millions of people, helping to build businesses, create jobs and lift men, women and children out of poverty.

Alonso García Tamés examines the evolution and application of the Principles of Emerging Market Debt.