The co-head of global commodities at Credit Suisse talks to Geraldine Lambe about building the bank’s commodities platform in a market that is booming and showing evidence of increasing maturity.

BNP Paribas has been expanding its businesses globally, both through acquisition and organic growth, and the previously predominant French operations are slowly but surely decreasing in significance. In an interview with Brian Caplen, CEO Baudouin Prot says that the anchor to all the bank’s business remains its retail base.

David Lane traces Italy's journey to the fore in European banking.

A conservative stance and good risk management are helping ING to keep steady in the credit crunch, CEO Michel Tilmant tells Karina Robinson.

A string of problems would result if the UK government decides to take the nationalisation route to digging the troubled bank out of trouble.

Bellwether Citigroup may have plugged the holes in its capital after its unacceptable fourth quarter performance, but how many other financial institutions will show the same resilience?

Infrastructure finance has formed an important part of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) boom of recent years. According to Thomson Financial, the value of infrastructure-related deals exceeded $300bn globally both in 2006 and 2007. Despite these record levels of investment, there is no sign of the demand for infrastructure assets relenting as financial sponsors, notably specialist infrastructure funds, continue to drive the growth of the market.

Angola’s retail banking network, while at an early stage of development, is growing fast along with an oil-driven economy. Rodrigo Amaral reports.

Leumi Bank now leads Israel’s booming banking sector, despite the government’s protracted struggle to sell its controlling stake. David Lipkin reports from Tel Aviv.