Are banks facing a rough ride on the information superhighway?

For a year the US Justice Department has been investigating whether or not Citibank violated federal money-laundering statutes through its private banking relationship with Raul Salinas de Gortari. Now the big question is looming: will Citibank, the banking unit of Citicorp, be indicted or, at the very least, end up paying a big fine?

When Australia's corporate bond market looked like taking off twice before, it soon fell flat on its face. Things are different this time, bankers argue. Government borrowing is being cut back and pension funds have increasing amounts to invest. So spreads are narrowing and smaller corporates at least are taking the hint. The blue chips still need some persuading. Albert Smith reports.

Euromoney's 1997 bond trading poll is dominated by SBC Warburg, ABN Amro, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and US giants Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. In almost all categories the continental players are on the rise. Commentary by Rebecca Dobson.

The development of Chile's domestic securitization market is gathering pace, with half a dozen transactions in the pipeline following the groundbreaking deal launched in January by Transa Securitizadora. As Euromoney went to press, Transa was about to launch a second offering, consisting of $9.7 million of notes backed by mortgage loans.

Wall Street is competing with an 800-pound gorilla. That's the label attached to Chase as it wrestles investment banking mandates from traditional players. Even by US standards Chase is noted for being aggressive. And its great strength is the lending capability that helps it win both bond and M&A deals. Will it eventually be king? By Michelle Celarier.

On February 28 NatWest Markets announced that it was suspending a trader after a £50 million loss on interest rate options. Two weeks later the bank suspended four more people, including two risk managers, and the hole had grown to £85 million. What went wrong? And what are the lessons for risk managers everywhere? By David Shirreff.

When Alan Smith returned to work he took no chances. The former head of Jardine Fleming finished his six months of gardening leave on April 1. Not wanting to look a fool he started a week later.

Dresdner Bank's roving diplomat Hansgeorg Hofmann struggled for 18 months to keep Kleinwort Benson intact after its takeover by Dresdner. But rival board members in Frankfurt were forcing a tortuous management structure on fledgling investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. That led Kleinwort's long-standing chairman Simon Robertson to quit in February. Now the gloves are off, and Dresdner's board, including Hofmann, have turned authoritarian. Expect some bloodshed. By Laura Covill.

Apart from some well-publicized swap operations that may have turned sour, Belgium's treasury has reduced the kingdom's cost of borrowing dramatically. But, as Charles Piggott reports, potential losses on contracts signed in the early 1990s have raised important questions for all sovereigns trying to balance market confidentiality with public accountability.