ESMA's Steven Maijoor argues that stricter regulation will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of credit rating agencies and help restore confidence in their ratings.

The EU has lost its way. Only by reverting to its original intention – of pooled sovereignty with all members pulling in the same direction for the greater good – can it get begin to recover from the crisis that currently engulfs it.

Armenia’s finance minister and former central bank vice-president Vache Gabrielyan is focusing on maintaining the country on its path of recovery, controlling inflation and starting a reform of its pension system.

Although the global financial crisis led to a significant contraction in the Armenian economy, the country’s banks were largely unaffected by the turmoil. With low banking penetration and regulation that is both progressive and cautious, the future for these institutions looks bright.

Hit hard during the financial crisis, the Romanian government was the first in the EU to successfully complete an International Monetary Fund loan programme, without even needing to draw the whole loan. Secretary of state for finance Bogdan Dragoi explains his government’s strategy.

UniCredit, Erste and Raiffeisen between them own significant market share across central and eastern Europe, but their approaches to turning local presence into international investment banking have varied.

Governments in central and eastern Europe can take heart from the fact that every economy in the region is forecast to grow in 2011. But the expanded role for development finance ushered in by the financial crisis is not being rolled back just yet.