David Mulford, chairman of CSFB International; Jacob Frenkel, chairman of Merrill Lynch International; E Gerald Corrigan, managing director of Goldman Sachs; Ernest Stern, managing director of JPMorgan Chase; Bill Rhodes, vice-chairman of Citigroup - put together they have around 125 years' experience in emerging markets.
They have been close to power - rarely quite in it - for 25 years each, as central bankers, World Bank or IMF economists, under-secretaries of the US Treasury and heads of Federal Reserve banks. And now they are putting their experience to use in the private sector as roving ambassadors for the world's biggest investment banks.
If a developing country's economy looks as if it is coming unstuck, there is a very good chance the country's finance minister will soon be sitting in a room with these people, trying to work out a deal. If you see one of this exclusive club talking to a finance minister...
