In a region traditionally renowned for its political and economic opacity, companies with a deep understanding of their customers and good corporate governance top Euromoney’s survey of the best-managed companies in the Middle East this year. Kanika Saigal reports.

New York City tops Euromoney’s inaugural survey as the world’s most competitive financial centre and the top city in which to do business. But will mounting regulation and anti-bank sentiment prompt the city’s financial institutions to leave? Helen Avery reports.

Uprising hit growth in many Middle Eastern markets this year. Continued instability keeps investors nervous, but there is huge potential to invest in the region, claim top analysts. Nathan Collins reports.

Occupy London: In pictures

The EU’s plans for the EFSF are a retrospective masterclass in everything that went wrong with structured credit.

"Buying up debt from bankrupt countries in the hope that they’ll receive a bailout from other bankrupt countries seemed like a good idea at the time."

Somehow, we seem to be back in the TMT era. Do you even remember what those initials stood for? Think telecoms, media, technology, and dial back 12 years to the dot-com mania and the 3G auctions for mobile phone licences. In mid-October, the BlackBerry email network went down for several days, causing consternation to most financiers. For several years now, the BlackBerry has been seen as uncool. "A device for boring old men," one teenager sniffed. But I should point out that the London rioters planned their nocturnal activities using BlackBerry’s free messaging service.

After regulators prevent them gouging one set of customers, banks struggle to exploit another.

The fortunes of Tunisia and Egypt are diverging rapidly since the Arab Spring. Tunisia offers encouraging signs but it is less influential.

It is not uncommon for financial journalists to watch TV reports from conflict zones with a mixture of envy and relief: the dangers facing a Euromoney reporter typically peak at gout.

Many of China’s provincial and municipal authorities are in financial trouble; a new bond issuance programme won’t help in the short run.

When Richard Moore was leaving Citigroup after two decades at the bank, in roles including global head of foreign exchange, he told colleagues he was considering a career shift to professional poker player.

More South African investor interest; Builds on power liberalization

Poland’s elections threw up some colourful characters – notably Janusz Palikot, the former vodka tycoon famous for attending press conferences with a dildo in one hand and a pistol in the other. But the result reaffirmed confidence in Poland.

‘Know your customer’ doesn’t only apply to banks. It counts for bookmakers too. Paddy Power certainly does.

State support to banks increasing; Loan books still growing

Listed on Tadawul; State wants more issuance

"He needs to get his returns back on track soon or else investors will start to pull out money, which will bring down assets, and then more will pull out. He’s far from over but he has lost a lot of money now, which is concerning"

In theory, any boost to banks’ capitalization should enhance their credit metrics and make their bonds more appealing to credit investors. But the great bank recapitalization plan unveiled at the European heads of state summit in Brussels at the end of October won’t do much to halt the slow-motion run on bank funding that has been unfolding since the summer.

To the London School of Economics, where Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler was speaking last month on reform of the global derivatives markets. The CFTC is a small agency with a few hundred staff that is attempting to regulate the $600 trillion OTC market, so Gensler is a busy man. How does he find time for such lectures?

€627 million Romania write-down; Recapitalization looms

With local banks becoming dominant in the region, foreign banks will need to take on a more local persona to remain competitive.

MF Global’s spectacular failure could have a knock-on effect on confidence in another mid-sized firm with ambitions to join the investment banking elite: Jefferies.

Bond and equity investors will no longer support the big bank model that has dominated for a generation. This could force a break-up of large, complex, universal banks into much smaller and more specialized institutions. Peter Lee examines why an investor-led, slow-motion bank run may bring about what politicians and regulators have failed to deliver.

With its banking system in decline, Europe must support the capital markets as providers of credit.

Consultants hired by banks to help vet potential clients for initial listing say some investment banks are spending less than ever on due diligence, even as more fraudulent companies are exposed. Might investors in their deals suffer? Lawrence White reports.

Dubai Bank ‘in dire need of capital’; Amlak next for takeover

Despite a handful of deals from top-quality issuers, the senior unsecured FIG market in Europe remains on life support. Some institutions will soon have to swallow their pride and issue at record spreads. For others it could already be too late. Louise Bowman reports.

HFR aggregate index down 5%; Paulson’s luck runs out

Developers’ bonds trading in 70s, 80s; Analysts expect more price cuts as sales fall