Poland’s thriving stock exchange is attracting eastern European companies seeking lower costs. Ben Aris reports.

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.

In just 18 months, Russian bank KIT Finance has become a major player, and it plans to get a lot bigger. By Ben Aris.

Denis Gorbunenko has turned a banking minnow into a rising giant – and he’s not finished yet. Ben Aris reports.

The announcement, as The Banker went to press, that Sweden’s SEB Group had signed an agreement to acquire 97.25% of Factorial Bank in Ukraine was the latest in a line of such acquisitions by European banks from outside the country.

Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungary’s prime minister, tells Karina Robinson how he plans to rein in public spending yet confound the polls and get re-elected .

The controversial Polish Financial Supervision Authority is stuck in a political war with the government over who should control the country’s banks, writes Jan Cienski in Warsaw.

Diversification by banks away from industry and into retail indicates Russia’s growing banking prowess.