Watch out! A hit squad of World Bank auditors could be making a surprise visit to a project near you. This is the Bank's first serious attempt, led by president James Wolfensohn, to address corruption head on. But nailing the culprits ­ some of them dictators and governments ­ is not so easy. By Michelle Celarier

The new dawn in South Africa is not an unmixed blessing for its banks. They now have to face foreign competitors muscling in on a sector they previously monopolized. But with their strong networks and increasing overseas resources, local banks are finding that alliances with foreign institutions can be mutually beneficial. Bruce Cameron reports

Peter Lee and Steven Irvine

Edson Mitchell's bold attempt to turn Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (DMG) into a world-beating bond house has made headlines in the past year. He has employed about 500 new staff -­ including many from his old firm, Merrill Lynch -­ in little more than 12 months. But until now Mitchell has shied away from talking publicly about his plans. Here, for the first time, he reveals what his aims are -­ and how he's going about achieving them. Mitchell spoke to Garry Evans

Managing director and head of fixed-income trading and sales, West Merchant Bank Limited

Komarovsky and Ingersoll sit at the feet of Wall Street's self-styled literary genius

On his first day as treasurer of the World Bank ­ March 1 this year Gary Perlin was winding up a trip to China, the bank's biggest borrower. By contrast, the first overseas trip of his predecessor Jessica Einhorn (now promoted to managing director) was to Japan, the biggest investor in the bank's bonds.

Korea has been negotiating to join the OECD. But the country's financial structure is still partly shackled, despite reforms in recent years. And president Kim's call for Korea to accept globalization has not been welcomed by many of his compatriots involved in finance and business. They believe opening the country's fragile financial markets to foreigners too quickly will create instability. Andrew Horvat reports

Over the past year, Roberto De Ocampo has more than vindicated his award of 1995's Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year. He goes from strength to strength, as part of a team under President Fidel Ramos that has brought the Philippines from being the sick man of Asia to become one of its star performers.