Banking consolidation, international investment and the new regional free trade agreement are attracting the attention of big hungry banks looking for an acquisition. Brian Caplen reports.

What is taken as gospel truth in European and American business circles, namely the infallibility of the western model, is far from accepted in the rest of the world. Brian Caplen explains why the dissenters exist and why their influence seems to be growing.

Seeking to improve their economies, Central America’s central bankers have been looking into the pros and cons of dollarisation, but so far only two countries have taken that path. Brian Caplen reports.

Brian Caplen reports on government efforts to avoid past mistakes and provide security for future generations.

Trinidadian banks are hungry for a bigger slice of the country’s lucrative energy sector but their plea for an end to withholding tax, which they argue would make them more able to compete, is falling on deaf ears. Brian Caplen reports from Port of Spain.

Brazil is working hard to make its capital markets attractive and the Novo Mercado, with its modern corporate governance standards, is helping. Brian Caplen reports.

Banco do Brasil has a policy of attracting and keeping low-income customers who may prove more lucrative in the future. Brian Caplen reports.

Until there is clarity over home country rule, Slovenian privatisation will be held up. Brian Caplen reports.

Slovenia’s finance minister Andrej Bajuk won The Banker’s award as best finance minister in Europe 2006. Here he explains to Brian Caplen how the Slovenian economy works.

The Banker celebrated its 80th anniversary (1926-2006) at the Drapers Hall in London with a cake-cutting ceremony attended by (from left) Brian Caplen, editor; Stephen Timewell, editor-in-chief; and Michael Kirkwood, master of the Guild of International Bankers and managing director UK, Citigroup. The 80th anniversary celebrations included a keynote speech by Sir Peter Middleton, president of the British Bankers Association and senior warden of the Guild of International Bankers, which examined key events in UK financial history, and a seminar that included both an economics panel and a banking panel.