The successful privatizations of banks taken under the wing of the state after the 1997-98 crisis and well-received bonds have boosted investor sentiment about Indonesia.

Source: www.breakingviews.com is Europe's leading financial commentary service

Kenichiro Shiozawa, the director of the capital markets division of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, tells Euromoney's Charles Olivier that JBIC paper is undervalued but that when conditions improve a euro issue will be considered.

The Russian government's long-term energy strategy to 2020 was sent to the Cabinet for discussion last month and should be approved before the summer holidays. The development of the energy sector remains a priority for the Kremlin, accounting for half the economy and just over three-quarters of stock market capitalization.

Bank Atlas - Top 200

Karlheinz Muhr is full of colourful ways to describe his business. He is chairman and founding partner of Volaris Advisors, which dubs itself an equity-options strategy firm. Essentially what it offers is the ability, as Muhr puts it, "to harvest the volatility of stocks which you already own".

Hybrid capital in all forms is attractive to yield-hungry investors right now, offering sellers good terms even while the straight equity market is closed. But the leading issuers - financial institutions - are concerned about lack of regulatory and accounting clarity.

The Olympics will boost the Greek economy but it needs structural reform and debt reduction. Looming elections may delay both.

Convertibles grabbed centre stage last month as European and US issuers took advantage of strong investor demand and the attractive combination of rallying share prices and tightening credit spreads.

Euromoney's Chris Cockerill speaks to Suchart Jaovisidha, Thailand's new finance minister, about non-performing loans, competition from China, the impact of Sars on tourism earnings and the plan for a pan-Asian investment fund, the Asia Bond Fund

Deep underground in a secured bunker in western Pennsylvania, employees of a Carlyle Group portfolio company perform background checks on government and airlines employees, as well as on thousands of private-sector job applicants.

As an environment of global deflation persists, money looking for yield continues to flow into emerging-market bond funds. Funds that have never invested in central and eastern European debt are now queuing up to do so. One banker in Poland says even Australian investors now hold Polish debt.

Chairman, Transparency International

Spain's savings banks have built a solid market share and reputation. And the new finance law looks set to strengthen their position yet further.

Brazil's decision to use 85% collective action clauses in its recent highly successful bond issue has raised questions about slightly off-colour investor pressure. What's more, the republic may have made it harder for itself to handle a restructuring should one be needed.

Source: www.breakingviews.com is Europe's leading financial commentary service

Primary debt capital markets picked up so significantly in May that some bankers felt able to forecast a bumper crop of issuance for the year. But with macro events so unpredictable they weren't betting their all on that outcome.

US banks are starting to make big investments in Russia again, and it could be a sign of a looming economic crash for the former superpower. That's the verdict that consultant Ray Soifer is drawing from the most recent set of figures from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

President of Mercer Oliver Wyman & Co

Harald Orneberg, a former banker at Salomon Smith Barney and founder of Orn Capital, is one of the new breed of hedge fund entrepreneurs. He has built his business from multiple hedge funds with different strategies and is winning over fans.

Three powerful and transforming currents swirling through wholesale financial services - banks' increased appetite for proprietary trading, the growth of hedge funds and the trend to outsourcing - flowed together at a compelling presentation by Deutsche Bank at Euromoney's annual forex forum at the London Hilton last month.

Yet another name from the UK's merchant-banking past bites the dust. UBS is to ditch the Warburg name from its investment bank as part of a rebranding that also heralds the demise of all other extraneous suffixes.

At its latest committee meeting, the Federal Reserve stressed the perils of deflation. Fed chairman Alan Greenspan made it clear that if there's a whiff of it the Fed will act. In sharp contrast, European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg slumbers on, occasionally mumbling about the dangers of inflation.

An inflation rate of only 2%, a stable currency and reserves at $3.5 billion demonstrate the stress Jordan has put on having a tight and rigorously enforced monetary policy.

Kazakhstan's attraction as a return-generating safe haven among emerging markets has been boosted by upgraded long-term currency ratings. These reflect bright prospects for the Kazakh economy and recognise the well-managed banking sector.

Adam Lerrick has promised the retail investors who sign up for his scheme that he will get them their money back: that although their coupons might drop and their maturities might be pushed back, the face value of their bonds will be preserved.

Sir,

At the start of the year the prospect of a rapidly appreciating rouble and higher than expected inflation were seen as the biggest dangers facing Russia's economy. Both have come to pass but the economy continues to roar ahead regardless. The combination of cheap money from abroad and rising productivity has offset these dangers and is driving Russia's impressive growth.

Leading custody banks are squaring up to provide the entire back-office and middle-office functions of fund managers, leaving them to focus more closely on investment. But outsourcing is not growing as fast as many had hoped. Now State Street is bad-mouthing its main rivals, Bank of New York and JPMorgan, saying they have held the whole market back by mismanaging their first deals.

When Kevin Gould was head of European fixed income at TD Securities, he would look around for daily market-wide data on credit prices. None existed. So he and a few colleagues left the bank to set up a company to produce it.