Emerging markets: Goodbye old world, hello new

Ever since the sub-prime crisis, global banks have been looking for the big idea that will replace revenues lost with the demise of the structured-finance era. Now they think they’ve found it. Emerging market to emerging market business, they believe, will drive growth for years to come. Where government deals lead, so the private sector and the banking industry will follow. It’s not just about headline M&A deals; it’s every part of a bank’s business, from selling equity to trading bonds. Perhaps the toughest task of all will be to position their own banks’ infrastructure to take full advantage of the new flows that bypass the traditional hubs of global finance. In this brave new world, as Sudip Roy reports, bankers are just as likely to shuttle between Beijing, Moscow and São Paulo as they are from New York to London and Tokyo.