A deluge of non-performing loans and deleveraging paint a bleak picture of Kazakhstan’s banking sector. But it is against this backdrop that smaller, second-tier banks, which follow much less aggressive strategies and are therefore in much healthier positions, can excel.

The breakdown of historic trends in foreign exchange since the financial crisis has driven institutional investors to consider a higher hedge ratio on their international portfolios, but cost remains a thorny consideration.

French giant Crédit Agricole has been buffeted by speculation surrounding the fate of the eurozone, but CEO Jean-Paul Chifflet explains how the right combination of international expansion and domestic branch network has kept the bank well positioned.

Emergency measures taken by the major central banks are widely credited for having a stabilising influence on the financial system and the economy. But there are growing concerns about the long-term impact of these measures.

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.

With oil prices riding high and minimal sovereign debt, Russia has been something of a safe haven. But high valuations and a poor corporate governance environment have impeded equity investment.

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.

A successful sovereign bond issue in June 2011 indicated that Iceland is gradually returning to financial normality after the collapse of its banking sector in 2008. But the three large banks that defaulted are still mired in controversy.