
Small Is Beautiful
Encouraged by government stimulus programs, banks are finding new ways to finance SMEs. Once the economy recovers, will the surge of interest recede?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. London’s Savoy Hotel Tough times continue for the world’s airlines.With their business model already under attack from nofrills carriers on short-haul and domestic routes,traditional airlines then took a series of ...
ASIA Born in Hong Kong in 1865, HSBC continues to dominate the banking industry in Asia.Over the past year, it has made particular headway in mainland China, opening up more opportunities in this huge market. In 2002, the bank became ...
Time was when emerging economies had to worry about things as mundane as a run on the bank. But now political uncertainty has replaced purely monetary concerns in judging the direction of emerging markets. The Turkish lira may still be ...
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Prudent risk management has kept National Bank of Kuwait’s books relatively clear of non-performing loans, but to call NBK conservative would be to ignore the bank’s dynamism in the face of a sluggish operating environment. At ...
BEST BANKS—CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Bankers at Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BACA) much prefer talking about their exploits in central and eastern Europe than events closer to home—and little wonder why. While the 2000 tie-up with HVB of Munich has turned ...
LATIN AMERICA Santander Central Hispano, one of the top 15 banks in the world in terms of market capitalization and Spain’s leading financial group, has become a major player in banking in Latin America over the past decade. The Madrid-based ...
Global Finance selects the world’s best. The real-time global settlement process took a major leap forward in September 2002, when the CLS Bank went live, netting positions in a five-hour window in each 24-hour period. CLS, or continuous linked settlement, ...
Global Finance selects the leaders in the $1.25 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market. The foreign exchange market, with daily turnover of $1.25 trillion, remains the world’s biggest financial market, even though trading has dwindled somewhat following the introduction of the euro. ...
On January 28 representatives from Global Finance’s World’s Best Companies gathered in New York’s Palace Hotel for an award ceremony.This year 35 awards were presented to recipients from 22 industry sectors, from airlines to wholesale. Winners were in attendance from ...
The financial services industry enhances its role as trusted intermediary by taking the risk out of international transactions As the locomotive of the global economy, the United States faces considerable uncertainty about potential conflict in Iraq and the threat that ...
Washington’s National Press Club was the scene of Global Finance’s fifth annual Best Banks Award Ceremony. The event took place at the end of September during the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. Global Finance editor Mark ...
In late October in New York, Global Finance conducted a gala awards dinner for the winners of 2002’s World’s Best Internet Banks Awards. The awards were based on submissions from participating banks, and 103 winners were announced in the September ...
Global Finance readers gathered in London to discuss the exciting—and disruptive—changes being wrought to the industry by new technology.