The arrival of the internet presents such a challenge for Swift, the bank messaging system formed in 1973 that has grown to be an integral part of the financial architecture. How should it go forward?
Bankers and finance professionals converging on Sydney this month for Swift’s annual Sibos conference will be invited to “raise ambitions” and set the agenda for the future. To help them with their deliberations, technology editor Dan Barnes has written a cover story looking at the whole range of issues surrounding Swift, including those of technology and corporate governance.
Meanwhile on this side of the world, at roughly the same time, guests to The Banker’s Investment Banking Awards ceremony in London will be toasting the winners in a range of categories across debt, equity and derivatives. To discover who came out on top, turn to page 30.
There is no prize this year for Wachovia but that may not always be the case. Stephen Cummings, head of corporate and investment banking at the Charlotte-headquartered bank, explains his strategy for climbing up the league tables. Also in our capital markets section, we look at exchange-traded funds and our team of the month is JPMorgan for the IPO work its bankers did for a German retailer.
As per usual with The Banker, this month’s edition contains wide geographical input. Our research team has come up with two listings: The Top 300 European banks and The Top 100 Central and Eastern Europeans. In western Europe, we explore the outcome of the Banca Intesa/Sanpaolo IMI merger, the development of securitisation in Portugal and the role of Cyprus as a safe haven in the Middle East. Moving eastwards, a new regulator in Poland is causing controversy and the Ukraine bond market is beginning to liven up.
In today’s world, no market is too small or obscure for serious consideration as an investment or place to do business. Correspondent Nick Freeman reports on progress in Laos while this month’s Bracken column examines the outlook for North Korea.
From the Middle East, Karina’s Kolumn is a profile of the central bank governor of Kuwait, Sheikh Salem Abdul Aziz Al-Sabah, and we have an article on the Qatar Financial Centre. In Latin America, we look at Bolivia and interview Santander Mexico’s CEO, Marcos Martinez.
Rounding it all off, we have a wealth of supplements: on private banking, cash management, service-oriented architecture, trading systems and the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).
