Middle Eastern companies and their banks are still very much open for business, despite the instability arising from the Arab Spring. But with risks rising, companies want ever more visibility and control over the way they manage their cash.

Three leading companies and Garanti Bank discuss the country’s corporate performance and access to finance. Growth is steady and firms are expanding, but there are wider macro issues that won’t go away.

China’s rapid expansion as a leading trading nation presents opportunities for banks to develop solutions to internal and international cash management needs. In this debate bankers and corporate clients discuss what has been achieved so far and what still needs to be done.

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Bankers and corporate treasurers discuss how best liquidity can be safeguarded in a world of wider regulation and broadening markets.

Warren Buffett’s stick-up of Bank of America in late August was a classic piece of opportunistic investment. The $5 billion deal marked an evolution in Buffett’s signature approach of renting his reputation to troubled financial companies in return for a near-extortionate fee. Rather than waiting for a firm such as Salomon or Goldman to come to him begging for protection, Buffett this time foisted a deal on Bank of America.

A Silicon Valley-style venture capital industry centred on Moscow might be unlikely, at least for now. But sustained state encouragement including funding could drive a boom in Russia’s high-tech industry. Dominic O’Neill reports.

A growing group of fund managers are fully aware of the risky nature of African capital markets – often having themselves taken hits – but regard the opportunities as a strong counterweight to the hazards. Nick Kochan reports.

Barclays spends a lot of money promoting its brand through the international golf circuit. Unfortunately, this year its two prestige events have both fallen victim to events outside its control. No, not turbulent markets – but terrible weather. Both its Scottish Open and its simply named The Barclays in the US found themselves reduced more quickly than any bank’s balance sheet, from 72 to 54 holes.

On a recent trip across London, one Euromoney journalist discovered an advert for a game in a booth on the banks of the Thames. The name of the game? Whack-a-Banker. Although the booth was closed, preventing a trial run at the game in the name of research, it is to be hoped that the (presumably three-armed, if the picture is to be believed) assailant depicted on its shutters is not in fact loose in the Square Mile.

"What did they do after agreeing the Greek bailout? They went on holiday and left the details until they came back in September. No wonder the whole thing looks likely to unravel"

An analyst at a hedge fund says a number of his peers and research firms have begun to use techniques, computer programs and employees from secret service agencies. The aim is to detect when an executive is lying on an analyst call. He says he knows of several hedge funds and research firms that monitor calls using such techniques.

In his new book, Banker to the World: Leadership Lessons From The Front Lines of Global Finance, William Rhodes, former senior vice-chairman and senior international officer of Citigroup, distils experiences from four decades of emerging market sovereign debt negotiations into handy advice to those struggling today to stabilize the finances of over-indebted developed-world governments.

"If you run a portfolio of German Bunds that is going to return you the square root of absolutely nothing! If people want to generate excess returns they will have to move from passive to active fund management"

"Stay close to the shore." It’s a sophisticated phrase that I’ve always considered full of pregnant implications but never properly understood. Recently a friend explained: "It’s short for stick to things you know or where you have an edge."

Fred Goodwin’s column inches continue to match the losses he racked up at Royal Bank of Scotland. After the summer saga of his superinjunction, in which, under the privilege of the House of Commons, a UK MP revealed his affair with a senior bank colleague, now two new books reveal more details of what else Fred the Shred was up to as RBS collapsed.

Warren Buffett’s record as an investor is unparalleled and his contribution to public life important, from pushing his fellow billionaires to pledge money to charity, to calling for a more equitable US tax code.

Over the past year Romania has staged a surprise recovery, thanks to careful political stewardship and workers’ willingness to accept swingeing austerity measures. However, there is still much work to be done if the country is to fulfil its potential. Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

Macro headwinds, regulatory aggression, competition and new funding structures herald a shake-up in Turkey’s banking sector. Yet with many of the banks’ European shareholders under intense pressure in their home markets, Turkish banking assets have never been so valued. Nick Lord reports.

Ecobank has become the most widespread bank in Africa. Its chief executive, Arnold Ekpe, says the focus is now on revenues and efficiency. But with major acquisitions recently announced, Ecobank’s ambitions for growth have not let up. Dominic O’Neill speaks to the bank’s leadership.

With a nimble approach to business and a track record of riding out storms in the Russian financial system, it is one of the country’s few bank success stories. But will Nomos suffer from growing too far, too fast? Rachel Morarjee reports from Moscow.

Argentina’s capital markets have become much more active this year, as the country’s economy booms and foreign investors turn to it in the belief that it offers investment opportunities. Jason Mitchell reports from Buenos Aires.

A wave of agricultural land purchases by Middle Eastern investment groups in emerging markets is causing disquiet among governments, NGOs and development institutions. Are these investments for commercial gain, or a grab for food security? Nick Lord reports.

Vale is one of the world’s leading mining companies, with activities in 38 countries generating record results. The company is in a strategic sweet spot, exposed to growth in commodity prices and emerging market demand. CFO, Guilherme Cavalcanti, says it is time the company is seen as a global leader, not merely a Latin American champion. Rob Dwyer reports from Rio de Janeiro.

While FICC, flow and corporate finance volumes languish, structured products and the equity derivatives that underpin them are enjoying robust growth. Global investment banks are eager to supply the products, while the need for returns and governance solutions is driving demand. Nick Lord reports.

Blessed with some of the continent’s most fertile land, Ukraine is of enormous interest to agribusiness. A handful of local and international firms think they have spotted an opportunity. The private sector will be vital to the country fulfilling its potential. Valentina Zarya reports.

US agriculture generates profits of nearly $100 billion a year. Food and finance are inextricably linked. But international demand for US agriculture products is providing new challenges for the country’s farmers, especially in price volatility. Helen Avery reports.

Citigroup is pinning its global strategy on the emerging markets and holds high hopes for its Latin America business. But, right now, it is nowhere near what it could and should be. Rob Dwyer reports from New York and São Paulo.

Brazil’s government has not shirked from competitive devaluation policies. The most recent, in July, was a strike against currency speculators through a new FX derivative tax. Rob Dwyer looks at how it will affect corporate hedging strategies.

Feeding the world is the most pressing issue facing society. Billions of dollars of new investment is needed to forestall future crises in both supply and price. Markets and financial institutions can play a crucial role in meeting the challenge. But how can they do so without being seen to exploit the most crucial resource of all? Sudip Roy reports.

The economy has been brought to a near standstill by domestic and regional political turmoil, but the country’s banks report rising deposits and profits and feel they can ride out the crisis. Dominic Dudley reports.

While regulators’ attention has focused on those that are too big to fail, the financial institutions in Europe that face the sternest challenge might be those that are too small to get funding from investors. And those at risk could include some sizeable and well-known banks, as Phil Moore reports.

The pat excuse for volatility striking markets in August is that the investment heavyweights are on the beach. Not so Alan Brown. The chief investment officer of Schroders met Euromoney as panic turned to hysteria. Brown believes these are among the most treacherous markets he has ever experienced, but finds a few boltholes for investors brave enough to be contrarians, writes Andrew Capon.

The euro crisis has already resulted in the region’s country risk scores falling by a greater margin than the Asian economies in 1997. That’s before any of the countries involved has actually defaulted. Andrew Mortimer asks: how many years will Europe take to recover?

It seems unlikely new political freedoms in the Middle East could bring greater economic empowerment. In the short term investors are being put off by the volatility. Banks are reassessing their positions. Dominic O’Neill reports.

The Asean region could be the world’s sixth-largest economy but its financial systems are far from homogenous. Free movement of goods, services, investments and labour planned for 2015 should boost unity but the lack of an integrated capital market is a big stumbling block. Chris Wright reports.

Alan Brown believes that it is incumbent on guardians of other people’s money to be nimble and react to changing data and the evolution of markets. Tactical moves are as important as long-term strategy and sentiment; cussedness or the rigid adherence to any set of beliefs have little role to play in making investment decisions. In spite of this, it is possible to detect a hint of schadenfreude when Brown talks about the current woes of the eurozone. Since before the introduction of the single currency in 1999, he has been unwavering in warning that imposing a one-size-fits-all monetary policy on Europe’s diverse economies would entrench imbalances and eventually wreak economic havoc.

The fall of the multi-billion dollar Sino-Forest Corporation is merely the most prominent show in the overseas-listed China stock scandal circus, as a colourful cast of auditors, corporate executives, exchanges, investors, regulators and short sellers argue over who’s to blame and what can be done about the alleged frauds and misdeeds now coming to light. Lawrence White follows a saga that takes in Hong Kong, New York and Shanghai.

The buoyant Thai economy kept motoring on through the political disturbances of the past year. But the recently elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra is already being challenged on its economic policies by former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij. Eric Ellis reports.

The summer of turmoil in the eurozone has cemented the transition of the region’s sovereign debt sector into one large and volatile credit market. Traditional passive fixed-income fund managers barely know how to cope, while credit specialists are jumping in and expecting to make big returns. Louise Bowman reports.

Some of China’s wealthiest people are banding together to use their money and local knowledge to invest in the country’s growth businesses. Little is known about these groups, their investments or their returns. Elliot Wilson shines a light on the underground investment culture, and asks what chance international private equity firms have of competing against local intelligence and power.

THE ARAB-NATIONALIST old guard that hung on to power for 40 years or more is falling. Even in the Gulf, regimes are under pressure. And as with the fall of the Berlin Wall, these events are having a far-reaching impact.

Egypt’s top bankers took extreme measures to ensure that the country’s financial infrastructure did not break down as the Mubarak government fell. Now, as they desperately hope that a new regime will enable the banking industry to flourish, optimism is tempered with the reality of how much work there is to do. Eric Ellis reports from Cairo.

Spending state oil revenues on prestige stakes in western brands no longer fits so well with the political climate in the Middle East. Mubadala has an alternative model for what Gulf governments can do with spare cash. If you want its investment money, you’d better bring something else to Abu Dhabi as well. Dominic O’Neill speaks to the firm’s senior management.

The political unrest in Bahrain has adversely affected banks and their customers. Loss of business to other Gulf states might be hard to reverse, especially as the government crackdown continues, leaving popular resentment smouldering. Dominic Dudley reports.

New entrants to Asia’s crowded brokerage market are spending heavily in the belief that committing fully to the region is the only way to survive. There’s a lot of money being spent, but not enough business for all of the competition to survive. Lawrence White reports from Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

For all the policy decisions of the past three years, nothing has been done to address the fundamental problems facing the economies of the developed world. Four key issues will continue to keep the world in a prolonged period of stagnation. If they all get worse at the same time, the consequences are painful to contemplate. Peter Lee and Clive Horwood look at the state we’re in.

In both the US and the eurozone there is a failure to recognize that the crisis is about solvency not liquidity.

For three years, policymakers have failed to address the root problems of the financial crisis. Only one tool is left – for central banks to buy up and thereby reduce the amount of debt outstanding. David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff bemoans the failure of leaders to tackle the debt problems head on.

The economies of developed nations are now dangerously dependent on consumption funded by debt to spur growth. Turning the clock back to make do and mend won’t be painless but it is both inevitable and long overdue.

Buffett instils confidence but at what price?; Deals positive signs for bank capital-raising

UniCredit trade proves the exception; Senior unsecured still shut

IIF emerges as key player in Europe’s sovereign debt crises; Veteran debt negotiator says lessons must be learnt quickly

It’s easy to think with what’s going on in the eurozone that the biggest financial crisis facing the world is the future of sovereign debt. But without wishing to diminish its seriousness there’s one issue that overrides its importance: food prices.

After stock collapses, bank talks up asset quality; Says profit warning reflects tougher outlook

Astana Finance dismays investors; Samruk-Kazyna favours ECAs

Governing party’s popularity hits all-time low; Budget deficit rises, corporate revenues fall

Argentina unit sold for $600 million; Focus on retail and smaller businesses

Over 50,000 jobs on the block; Move to fixed compensation added pressure

Hong Kong, London, Mongolia exchanges involved; Korea, Japan angry over contract exclusion