The tables are starting to turn in the Brazilian banking market – for the first time foreign-owned banks have become acquisition targets for locals Itaú and Bradesco, valued at more than $60 billion each, which now dwarf the purchasing power of several of the international banks in the aftermath of the sub-prime crisis.

As foreign banks – with the notable exception of Santander – draw in their horns, local mid-tier banks are racing to take advantage of the domestic boom in Brazil. Chloe Hayward reports.

The growing trade links between Russia and Serbia are likely to lead to a greater Russian presence in the Balkan country’s banking sector. That is the view of Alexei Sytnikov, vice-president of Bank of Moscow, Russia’s fifth-largest banking group by assets, which has established a wholly owned subsidiary in the Serbian capital Belgrade with an initial investment of €15 million. "We believe that the probability of other Russian players entering the Serbian market is very high," says Sytnikov, who is responsible for Bank of Moscow’s international banks. He adds that all the prerequisites for Russian banks, most likely from among the top 30 players, are in place for them to look to set up subsidiaries in Serbia – strong economic growth, a relatively low level of competition in the financial services sector and a growing Russian business presence.

Commercial banks eager to exploit the opportunities in a rising sub-Saharan Africa might have to pay a high price for first-mover advantage. In this most local of retail banking markets, home-grown firms have developed the most effective, innovative approaches. As Dominic O’Neill finds out while bouncing along dirt roads in Kenya and Mozambique, international firms need to follow the locals’ examples, or discard their most basic ideas of what a bank can do.

Before the September crisis, many banks were looking to sell non-core assets to raise capital. Now, safety in size means mergers are the order of the day. But when the market settles, will investors demand that banks concentrate on what they are good at to maximise returns?

Prime brokers' relationships with hedge funds have inevitably be modified by the credit crunch but ultimately the brokers have to provide the full range of services funds require at a reasonable cost and without undue constraints.

Lawyers around the world are readying lawsuits to file against banks that sold toxic products to investors. Which types of deals are likely to be the subject of the biggest payouts? And how will banks pay for them?

Massive interest in agricultural commodities has turned cautious. Investors are looking for a more lucrative and less volatile way to get exposure to long-term trends through equities and land. Peter Koh has a look at the menu.

With the sale, among other assets, of the state telecommunications firm, privatization in Iran seems to be accelerating. There is an apparent eagerness to attract foreign investors. But, some say, if capitalism in Iran is being let out of the pen, it is still being kept on a tight leash. Dominic O’Neill reports.

China’s finance minister has had a difficult first 12 months in charge, but has succeeded in maintaining the country’s economic momentum.

Bankers are in the final stages of preparing Iran’s first ever securitization, according the head of a Tehran investment bank.

India’s state-owned banks still dominate finance, but they’re having to find new ways to compete with private firms – within the tight constraints imposed by government. Dominic O’Neill reports.

"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory." That’s one veteran Moscow-based fund manager’s view on recent events in Russia. And no, he’s not referring to the conflict with Georgia, where Russia’s still formidable military might has arguably carried the day.

ENRC floated in London last year on the promise that it would make transformational acquisitions globally. Its play for rival Kazakhmys has, however, proved abortive. So what next for ENRC and its frustrated shareholders? Elliot Wilson reports.

Peru’s dramatic rise from market pariah to investors’ darling was capped this year with investment-grade status awarded by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, opening Peruvian capital markets to huge interest among institutional investors. Ironically, Alan García, the president who made Peruvian debt a no-go area in the 1980s with soaring inflation and bond defaults, oversaw the upgrades in his second term, two decades later as a free-market convert.

Even as they delever, shed assets, raise capital and hoard liquidity against further hits, banks know they must also fundamentally change the rotten underlying business practices that led them to disaster. If they can’t, even those that manage to survive this disaster will fall victim to the next. That’s if the regulators don’t shut them down first. Peter Lee reports on an industry trying to relearn the basics.

Global regulators are poised to introduce new rules to clamp down on the securitization industry’s worst excesses. But in doing so they could kill it off for good.

The continent’s main markets, such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Angola, are attracting growing interest from investors. Foreign and local emerging market financial specialists analyse this change of attitude.

East Timor’s finance minister Emília Pires knows that wise investment of its $3 billion fund is crucial to the country’s poverty-stricken population.

Private equity company Lone Star is fast becoming the biggest beneficiary of the banking woes caused by the credit crisis.

The market looks set to remain buoyant, especially in the key Gulf centres, with a widening variety of access routes for investors and developers prepared to commit themselves to local contacts and a local presence.

The chief executives of 11 of the world's biggest banks discuss the lessons they have learnt from the global financial crisis, their concerns over a regulatory backlash, and how they plan to rebuild profitability in the toughest markets in history.

After a two-year hiatus, China’s regulators are allowing more foreign investment banks to enter the domestic capital markets. What are their strategies and is China’s potential as great as everyone assumes? Sudip Roy reports.

International supranational, sovereign and agency borrowers raised billions in dollar issuance during the first half of the year. This was a continuation of 2007, when volumes from supras and European agencies rose 14% to €241 billion, according to Dealogic. The dollar activity was driven, in large part, by central bank investors that were attracted by wide swap spreads and their wish to diversify away from the government-sponsored enterprises. The woes of the GSEs have increased and the high-level investor sponsorship the European Investment Bank received at the end of August for its $4 billion three-year issue, led by BarCap, Citi and JPMorgan, illustrates the state of the frequent borrower sector.

Growth potential, better corporate governance, a shot of expert knowledge and a troubled stock market are all reasons why family-owned firms might sell stakes to interested outsiders. Alex Warren reports.

Continuing problems are forcing firms to reconsider market timing, the balance between public and private funding and the importance of neglected sources such as retail and corporate deposits. Six specialists debate the issues.

Senior bankers in China remain confident that the economy will continue to provide a favourable backdrop for the banking industry, despite a slowdown in growth. However, some concede that a more complex economic environment in China and abroad will bring greater challenges to the banking system, especially in risk management.

The reintroduction of mandatory market-making in Pfandbriefe has not gone smoothly.

The country is looking to the future under a pro-investment government. Foreign banks, private equity funds and manufacturers are interested, but there’s no guaranteed alpha on the Mekong. Lawrence White reports.

Complex securitization without a single new bond.