Hungary’s foreign banks are adamant that they’re in for the long haul. But with a deeply hostile government, a hefty tax bill in the offing and huge mortgage portfolios sinking ever further underwater, is their position sustainable? Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

Being a fixed-income investor in Europe just got a whole lot trickier.

Scotching a reputation for cowboy practices, they are responding to demands for more sophistication and the state’s desire to create an important financial centre. New respectability is accompanied by impending consolidation that will leave eight or so leading houses. Elliot Wilson reports.

Cairn boss breaches protocol; Vedanta struggling to raise cash

Dropping of Nedbank deal still unexplained; Door now open for Standard Chartered

Turkey’s IPO market has disappointed this year. The wrong deals were sold at the wrong prices, leaving a bad taste in investors’ mouths. Can the lessons be learnt to ensure next years’ big pipeline gets completed? Nick Lord reports.

Development bank crowds out private sector; But has vital role in infrastructure development

There was no chance that the UK’s Financial Services Authority would emerge from the recent financial crisis without a fundamental overhaul of its culture, objectives and procedures. But did it need to be scrapped altogether? And if it did, will the new model work any better? Dawn Cowie reports.

Acute mid-market refinancing need; New funds target sector

Continued economic growth is under threat from a backlog in infrastructure development. Obstacles to foreign and domestic financing of the sector urgently need to be overcome. Rob Dwyer reports.

Latin America’s debt market is setting new benchmarks, demonstrating the region’s rapid progress. But are things going too fast? Sudip Roy reports.

Return to positive growth in 2011; Credit risk spreads down, equity investor interest up

These are sober times in Ireland, as the nation, so well known for its bonhomie, seems somewhat underwhelmed after the slide of its economic wellbeing. This was perfectly illustrated when Euromoney calls into visit a source at the Bank of Ireland in Dublin recently. It’s the final round of the Ryder Cup, and the source whisks Euromoney off to a pub down the road from its Baggot Street headquarters. The result hangs in the balance right down to the last pairing, which contains the Irishman, Graham McDowell. Expecting pints of Guinness and much boisterousness, it feels more like an Irish wake, but with glasses of water and herbal tea. It’s a long way from the last Ryder Cup held in Europe, at Ireland’s lavish K Club, when it was all champagne, and Ireland’s then hero Darren Clarke necked a pint of Guinness for the TV cameras. When McDowell secures victory for Europe, there’s some polite clapping and then bankers drift out onto the street, as the autumn leaves begin to fall.

Is it bonfire night or bonfire of the vanities at Credit Suisse? The Swiss bank has reported mediocre third quarter results for 2010. Group net income plunged by 74% (year over year) to SFr609 million, pre-tax profits at the investment bank were down 50% from the second quarter and group return on equity was 7%.

"It’s getting to the point where clients are looking not at which banks would be good to run the deal but which will lie to them best"

"We don’t think there are cases where people have been evicted out of homes where they shouldn’t have been"

Introducing Gold ATMs, Chanel bullion replica clutches, and reopening JPM gold vaults.

Could the villain of the piece yet have a hero’s role to play? Last month, Angelo Mozilo, former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, paid a $22.5 million penalty and disgorged $45 million of what the SEC calls "ill-gotten gains" to settle disclosure violation and insider trading charges. It is the largest sum ever paid by a public company executive in an SEC settlement. Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC enforcement division, says: "Mozilo’s record penalty is the fitting outcome for a corporate executive who deliberately disregarded his duties to investors by concealing what he saw from inside the executive suite – a looming disaster." The money will be returned to investors harmed in Countrywide’s collapse.

Spanish lender looks for growth abroad; Other Turkish lenders expand their horizons

Bond resurgence eschews riskier banks; Project bonds might seal demise of loan dominance in Gulf

In September and October a torrent of tightly priced Asian bond deals pushed established investors along the yield curve and swept in new names. The more exotic the deal, the more investors flocked to it. But there are concerns that too much money is flowing into Asia. Lawrence White reports.

Second rise in as many weeks; Analysts sceptical of its effectiveness

To hire seven FIG bankers by December; Adding 50 in Asia over next nine months

The confirmation of disappointing third-quarter sales and trading revenues for most banks set the stage for a crucial fourth-quarter push by investment bankers – the push to maximize their own bonus payments.

The proposition that if you build an investment banking franchise clients will come was severely tested in the third quarter. Sales and trading revenues were weak for most dealers, though with wide variance between big firms. Results were particularly poor for banks such as Morgan Stanley and UBS that had been rebuilding their investment banking franchises on the assumption that an aggressive push into flow business lines would result in increased client volumes.

The EU’s plans to tighten measures to prevent eurozone instability and discipline transgressors are admirable in theory. But implementation will be a tough task and is not in any case achievable until 2013.

The Irish government must push through an austerity budget and stabilize its finances before returning to the capital markets next June. It hopes to resolve its banking system and property sector problems through early recognition of losses. If this bold experiment fails, the country might yet be a test case for euro sovereign debt rescheduling.

Deal flow to continue into Q1; Strong foreign capital inflows in Brazil

Lack of transparency concerns potential partners; Cinda leads the group in JV creation

Chinese appetite for Russian risk remains relatively weak; Rare IT flotation on the way in London