Argentina's spectacular sovereign debt default may, ironically, change international rules on dealing with such collapses while coming too late for the country itself. Suzanne Miller reports from New York on why the IMF may finally have run out of patience with its old friend.

In times of turbulence, investors flocked to Brazilian banks. They always delivered in the worst kind of scenarios. But what if Brazil becomes stable? Brian Caplen analyses how things could change.

Karina Robinson interviews Pedro Malan, Brazil's finance minister, who has less than two years left in office before elections.

Guillermo Ortiz looks thoroughly at home in his opulent offices at the Central Bank of Mexico. But, as he points out, in the early 1980s he was already ensconced in the Bank’s economic research bureau.

As merger and acquisition activity in the US banking sector slows and foreign heavyweights circle, major players are choosing to diversify their portfolio of interests. Michael Blanden reports.

Last year was a bumper one for the US banks. From the local and regional retail outfits to the international money centre groups, to the specialised investment banking and fee-earning businesses, circumstances conspired in their favour.

The US banks are enjoying a period of calm and they are hoping it will last.