Over the past few years, investors have learnt to take privatization promises by the Croatian government with a pinch of salt. Despite the rapid sales this year of Rijecka banka and other successes, many assets pledged to the market have been yanked from the selling block or otherwise left in state hands.

Morale in the equity division won't have been high at JPMorgan's London offices following the news of Geoffrey Boisi's departure. Its recovery won't have been helped by the departure in quick succession of three of the bank's top-ranked research analysts.

Progress at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency is crucial to dragging the country out of a mire of debt. Its new chairman, the seventh to hold the post, is well regarded. But he has suffered an early setback. Is this the toughest job in Asia?

There's nothing like a good piece of news management. UBS had the chance to show its skills with its handling of Markus Granziol's departure.

"In a world of free trade and global economy, Americans are suffering severely. We have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to our own people as we struggle to compete in the New World." This battle cry for US self-help comes from an unexpected source - a dispute between US bondholders and the Chinese government over unpaid debt.

The five-year battle between Nasdaq and ECNs is heating up. Nasdaq launches SuperMontage in July, a worthy rival to the ECNs’ trading systems that could win back dealflow. Meanwhile ECNs are depriving Nasdaq of crucial revenue. Is this the start of the trading endgame?

It's often the smaller deeds that prove most important in the long run, and that is what Goldman Sachs is hoping will be the case with a new data service it is launching.

Talk of an exchange for foreign exchange has been around for almost as long as e-trading platforms but none of them has so far have precipitated a move in that direction. Instinet FX Cross, a joint venture between Instinet and CitiFX, may prove to be different.

Head of global markets for Asia, Deutsche Bank