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Jordan’s Arab Bank is one of the most influential financial institutions in the Middle East. It has thrived for nearly 80 years, largely because of a strict risk management policy. Sudip Roy reports from Amman on how the bank is managing the financial crisis.

Just two years after facing its previous financial crisis, Hungary is once again in trouble thanks to over-reliance on foreign markets. But it is not necessarily the banks that need saving. Jethro Wookey reports from Budapest.

After enjoying years of plenty, the country’s investment banks are facing up to the prospect of leaner times ahead. Guy Norton reports from Moscow on how they are looking to survive the economic downturn.

Unlike most sovereign wealth funds, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is still growing strongly and looking for more foreign risk. Will the country’s experience of the global downturn rob the international capital markets of a new hope? Dominic O’Neill reports from Baku.

Mohammed Grimeh has just started at Standard Chartered Bank in the newly created role of head of trading and deputy head of global markets Americas, based in New York.

The future shape of the UK mortgage finance market remains uncertain despite the publication on November 25 of former HBOS chief executive James Crosby’s report, which recommends the introduction of a £100 billion government guarantee for mortgage-backed bonds to be issued in 2009 and 2010.

Ideologically the US and Iran are far apart, but economically they are uncomfortably linked. As the US recession spurs an oil-price crash, Iran’s populist financial policies might be set to face substantial obstacles.

Despite a collapse in bank financing lines and the export markets, the Panama Canal expansion project will be an attractive investment in 2009, according to the Panama Canal Authority.

Zurich Insurance wants to expand its insurance offerings for U.S. middle market property owners, real estate investment trusts and property managers. The insurer has a 5% share of the real estate insurance market and hopes to grow this to 15% over the next five years, said Richard Elliott, global head of real estate.

The $20 billion Texas Permanent School Fund has mapped out a proposal for implementing its new 6% allocation to real estate, which is up for approval this month.

This Asian crisis might not be as bad as the last one. For Amando M Tetangco Jr, governor of the central bank of the Philippines, the lessons learnt from the crisis of 1997 and the reforms that followed it mean that the outlook for 2009 is not nearly as gloomy as might be expected. Euromoney speaks to him about the challenges facing the banking sector, forecasts for growth and inflation, and lessons learnt from the 1997 crisis. It’s been a tough year by any measure, so let’s look forward. What’s your outlook for 2009?

The Eurasian Development Bank has admitted Belarus, Armenia and Tajikistan. According to the bank’s chairman, Igor Finogenov, the admission of new member states will enhance the wider geographic expansion of the bank’s investment activities. According to the founding documents of the bank – which was established in January 2006 by Kazakhstan and Russia – any country or international organization can apply for membership.