Although Belgium’s banks are secure in their comfortable home market, the big players are feeling the pinch and see salvation in the emerging markets of Europe and Asia, says Jules Stewart.

Citigroup president and CEO Chuck Prince could enter the history books if he succeeds in the radical restructure he is planning for the world’s largest bank. Brian Caplen reports.

Venezuela’s president may shock with his ‘socialist’ pronouncements but the banking sector is not worried.

A new set of rules for documentary credits is expected to restore the reputation of this much-maligned method of trade finance. But will bankers be able to meet the July deadline? Michael Imeson writes.

Current account imbalances, household indebtedness, large leveraged transactions in the corporate sector as well as the growth in market complexity should all be sounding alarm bells, says Mario Draghi.

Dominican banks have been strong in the corporate sector but are still striving for the custom of a largely unbanked population, a vast number of microbusinesses and a share of the buzzing remittances market.John McCarthy reports.

Wendy Atkins in Bali reports on the expansion of Indonesia’s microcredit operations that have proved to be resilient depositories for the poor in times of economic crisis.

Critics of northern Italy’s rapidly consolidating co-operative bank networks decry the fact they can take over commercial rivals but not vice versa. David Lane explains.

The Code of Conduct for Clearing and Settlement is being hailed as an important step in pulling down the barriers to cost-effective, cross-border clearing and settlement in Europe.

Given that Europe’s exchanges are now run for profit – an ethos that may be compounded by prospective mergers with expansionist US exchanges – users complain that their needs have become secondary and are threatening to set up their own pan-continental multilateral trading facilities. Dan Barnes explains.