Despite concerns over data fraud, communication problems and a backlash from western countries, India is still a prime destination for banks to outsource their business processes, writes Kala Rao.

Nigeria’s finance minister is campaigning hard for debt relief for the country and finding plenty of sympathy but little action so far.James Eades reports.
Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is on the road to convince the country’s creditors to forgive its debts. Two months into the year hailed by many as the year of Africa, the timing arguably could not be better. But she is finding that a sympathetic hearing does not necessarily equate with actual debt relief.

Bermuda is discussing whether to sever ties with the UK, with opinion sharply polarised. Mairi Mallon assesses the implications for the financial sector.

This year’s Central American ranking is dominated by Panama’s banks as the country benefits from stability.

Central Bank initiatives are enabling Brazil’s low-earning citizens to access banking services. Jonathan Wheatley reports from São Paulo on the benefits for both local communities and the financial institutions that cater for them.
Standing in line at a kiosk in Vila Nivi on the northern outskirts of São Paulo, Sandra, a 38-year-old mother of four, is upset. “I’ve been waiting 40 days for my bank card,” she says. “I’ve come here every day to complain.”

Although the offshore market is important to Latin Americans, some are now being tempted to bring their wealth onshore. Monica Campbell reports.
Thanks to a strong, more stable local banking sector, the trend among affluent Latin Americans to have their assets managed offshore is slowly reversing. Sensing an opportunity, many foreign powerhouses, such as US banks Citigroup and JP Morgan, Swiss bank UBS and the UK’s HSBC, are setting up private banking shops in the region, hoping to convince the wealthy to do their financial shopping locally, instead of heading to Miami.

Kong Jaw-sheng, the first chairman of Taiwan’s new Financial Supervisory Commission, talks to Dennis Engbarth about its early days and its future priorities.

Indonesia’s banks are going back into private hands as the government continues with its economic reform plans, despite the huge post-tsunami rebuilding task it faces. Simon Montlake reports on progress.

Kazakhstan’s spectacular financial boom is beginning to attract the attention of European banks, reports Christopher Pala from Almaty.
European banks have long perceived Kazakhstan, the largest after Russia of the former Soviet republics, as “too far, too small, too risky”. Five times the size of France with its economic capital, Almaty, close to the Chinese border and as far from Paris as Paris is from New York, Kazakhstan’s population is only 15 million: a small market spread over a huge area, ruled by an authoritarian president unwilling to make the transition to democracy.

As the bidding war rages for the London Stock Exchange, Geraldine Lambe looks at how the 200-year-old-institution lost its lead in the European charts.