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Bank capital - From a trickle to a flood

Euromoney's latest brokers' poll of Asia's Best Companies took place against the backdrop of cyclical economic recovery accompanied by partial reform. India's best have come top in a number of sectors for the first time, while Korean and Hong Kong corporates also do well. After robust growth this year IT and other technology companies continue to top several country polls. Research by Andrew Newby and Alexa Marx.

Asia 100 1999 - Cleaning the hives

People: Mark Collier, Chairman and CEO, Investia

Asia's best companies 1999

E-commerce - Redefining exchanges

Bad vibes in Bishopsgate

Deals of the year - Top quality issuers succeed in demanding markets

The US could be in for more than a few surprises this holiday season as it unwraps the Financial Modernization Act of 1999 - its latest gift from Congress. It's a big bill with lots of attachments. Principally, it allows banks to conduct securities and insurance business under the umbrella of new financial holding companies and boosts the power of the Federal Reserve as regulator of these. Another outcome may be to extend federal safety net protection to lending for pork-barrel projects. James Smalhout reports.

The United States Senate confirmed Comptroller of the Currency John D Hawke, Jr in October for a five-year term. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) within the US treasury charters and regulates national banks, a total of approximately 2,400 institutions, including most large banks in the US as well as 59 federal branches and agencies of foreign banks in the US. But the OCC appears to be losing regulatory turf under the new modernization bill which grants authority to the Federal Reserve to regulate new financial holding companies.

Hedging equity risk is now possible through the Athens Derivatives Exchange (Adex) with its futures contract based on the FTSE-ASE 20 Index covering blue chip stocks. Options and bond futures are on their way as are tie-ups with other European exchanges and regional indices. Adex chairman Panayotis Alexakis, a finance professor at Athens University and a business consultant, explains how he believes the market will develop. By Michael Peterson.

If you ever forget - or never knew - what being a banking lawyer is all about, there's a book that will make it all horribly clear, says Christopher Stoakes