As the Turkish economy expands, the major institutions are raising their game and improving their performance. Below we detail the key financial indicators for Turkey’s banking front runners.

The Banker presents a comprehensive overview of Turkey’s debt position and likely borrowing requirements for the future.

Despite the kickstart to merger and acquisition (M&A) given by two high-profile US deals, a report from Fitch Ratings last month stated that a growth in cross-border consolidation among financial institutions in Europe is unlikely. The report said that Europe was still fraught with regulatory, fiscal and cultural barriers, “not to mention a lack of any realistically achievable synergies”.

In the wake of a tough market and a poor reception for its new-look Golf, German carmaker Volkswagen has revealed a downbeat outlook for 2004 and announced plans to cut expenditure by 10%. Yet, it seems, analysts are still sceptical. Geraldine Lambe reports.

In Germany, the profitable niche of a regional rival is giving Frankfurt’s Deutsche Börse a run for its money. Jan Wagner reports from Stuttgart.

Greece’s newly elected conservative government has pledged to boost growth and reduce unemployment. However, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has more pressing issues to contend with first – namely, to ensure the success of this year’s Olympic games. Kerin Hope reports from Athens.

Greek banks have expanded their presence in south east Europe in the expectation of boosting their market share, writes Kerin Hope.

The chairman of Alpha Bank says its outlay of E78m to become the official banking sponsor for the Athens Olympics was money very well spent.

A raft of favourable economic conditions has facilitated a long-overdue reversal of fortunes for Greece’s key financial institutions. Stephen Timewell reports from Athens.

South east Europe is growing fast and the major banks in the region, particularly the Greek banks, are rapidly expanding their capital base as they expand their networks into neighbouring countries. This year’s Top 50 South East European banks listing shows that aggregate Tier 1 capital has risen by 33.6% to $32bn from $24bn in last year’s listing. Some of the major Greek banks significantly increased their capital to support future expansion. National Bank of Greece (NBG), the largest bank in the region, increased its Tier 1 capital by 58.8% to $3.71bn at the end of 2003 thereby markedly raising its Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio from 7.4% to 10.3%. Alpha Bank also saw Tier 1 capital rise by a significant 48.9% to $2.64bn. Panayotis Thomopoulos, deputy governor of the Bank of Greece, believes Greek banks have the highest levels of Tier 1 capital in the EU at 10%.