Latin American companies are snubbing local acquisitions in favour of far-flung deals but SMEs will find it hard to play, writes John Rumsey in São Paulo.

With a thriving economy that appears to be on the up, Panama is seeing a wave of takeovers by foreign banks. John Rumsey reports.

Xiao Gang, chairman of Bank of China, talks to Stephen Timewell about the bank’s domestic and international strategy for the coming year.

Banks’ overall downturn in performance, despite Japan’s economic growth, signals a rough road ahead.

Indonesia’s finance minister Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati tells Neil Sen that she is aiming for sustainable growth that will ensure equality.

There is an air of excitement about progress in Indonesia’s banking sector and its prospects in the coming year. Neil Sen explains why.

Formed in 1992, Parex has seen off various crises to become Latvia’s second largest bank by selling itself as a channel into western Europe for Russian investors. Robert Anderson reports.

Jan Cienski reports from Warsaw on the complex, drawn-out merger of Pekao SA and BPH – an alliance that has created the largest bank in Poland.

The volume of public listing in Russia shows no signs of abating and commercial banks are likely to join the state banks in keeping the momentum going in 2008. Ben Aris reports.

Ruth Emery assesses the likelihood of a merger between the Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges.