With EU accession and a strengthening economy, Romanians may be increasingly positive about their future, but tough challenges remain. Neil Tyler reports.

Competition for market share is tightening in Latvia’s banking sector. Some institutions are seeking organic growth at home, others are looking abroad for expansion opportunities. James Hydzik reports.

Spain’s 12-year economic boom may be slowing down but the government’s handling of the ETA problem remains the prime polarising issue. Karina Robinson reports.

Banesto is 89% owned by Santander and is run as a quasi-autonomous entity. Banesto’s small size relative to its parent ensures that it can be used as “a trial bank or a laboratory” for new technology and as a business model, which (if successful) can then be implemented across the group, chairman Ana Patricia Botín, told The Banker in a past interview.

Can greater efficiency gains be made by Spain’s cost-effective banks – and will their forays into Anglo-Saxon markets succeed? Karina Robinson reports from Madrid.

With increasingly vibrant bond markets, and healthy M&A and IPO pipelines, the recovery of German real estate and the launch of REITs could be the icing on the cake. Geraldine Lambe reports.

With Allgemeine Hypothekenbank Rheinboden’s (AHBR) balance sheet of about €75bn – about two-thirds in public sector loans and a third in mortgage loans – Lone Star first had to negotiate a large liquidity facility to replace the emergency measures provided by the German banks and backed by the deposit protection system.

While the sale of Landesbank Berlin is raising hopes that Germany’s tripartite banking system will start crumbling, those more capitalist-inclined bank boardrooms with an eye on overseas expansion shouldn’t hold their breath. Geraldine Lambe reports.

Nordic banks have traditionally adopted decentralised management structures, incorporating collective business practices while eschewing securitisation. Brian Caplen assesses whether this model can be made to work overseas.

Covered bond issuance out of the US will not only widen the global market, but also deepen the investor base for the European issuers, writes Michael Marray.