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The advent of the euro has prompted banks to reorganize their bond trading and provoked a new scramble for supremacy. Deutsche comes out top for trading euro-denominated bonds in Euromoney's annual bond-trading poll. Research by Miranda Crowell. Report by Hannah Wilde.

Mix telephone evangelism with telephone banking and you have... Bank of Scotland's latest direct banking venture. The bank already has a UK operation in partnership with a supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, but it has chosen a more controversial partner for the US in the form of Marion "Pat" Robertson.

There aren't many real ex-rocket scientists for hire, but another area investment banks might look at is nuclear engineering - a skill that's becoming less sought after these days. Merrill Lynch's affable new hire Dante Roscini spent five years designing nuclear power plant before dwindling enthusiasm for the nuclear industry prompted a rethink. After business school he ended up at Goldman Sachs in 1988.

Why has the merger of Chase and Chemical succeeded while others have not?

The IFC and World Bank have spent much of the last two decades at each other's throats. The appointment of Peter Woicke as head of the IFC and a managing director at the Bank should change that. It should also help increase emphasis on private-sector funding. James Smalhout reports.

Public Pfandbriefe sold by German mortgage banks are a familiar sight in international capital markets. But less well-known is what's swimming around in the underlying pools of collateral - and how the issuers earn their money. Another Orange County in the making? Marcus Walker investigates.

Last August's banking crisis in Russia had a differential effect. Big players heavily committed to the government bond market were hardest hit, smaller banks with less exposure not only survived but have picked up new clients. Ben Aris reports

Most people who meet Alexandra McLeod, Bank of America's new European head of corporate banking, have trouble placing her accent. Americans think she's British; the English assume she's from North America. In fact hers is the perfect transatlantic background for the bank's senior officer in Europe.

The EBRD's shareholders demanded that the bank be big in Russia. The investment bankers running the place responded by making deals. The result? €261.2 million ($284 million) of losses last year more than half due to provisioning against the Russian portfolio. New president Horst Köhler says that strategy not volume must drive programmes in future - corporate governance, institution building and lending to small enterprises are his top priorities. But below him not a single head has rolled even though EBRD bankers sat on the boards of Russian banks that went under. Only in a public institution would they get off so lightly. Brian Caplen reports.

Our ground-breaking annual European credit research poll ­ appearing for the second time and based on responses from an ever-growing number of investors ­ continues to generate fascinating results. Investors are embracing corporate, high-yield and asset-backed bonds. And they read analysis from a broad range of banks. Merrill Lynch does notably well in high yield. Research by Rebecca Cicolecchia.

Ex-JP Morgan banker Peter Woicke is the new chief at the International Finance Corporation. He will also be responsible for guiding the World Bank's work with the private sector. He talks to Euromoney's James Smalhout about his plans.

The euro will fall by a further 10% against the dollar and reach parity with the US currency within a year.