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Cover Story

Cover Story : Is China The New Japan?

As fears grow that China’s economy may be dangerously overheated, analysts are increasingly drawing parallels with Japan’s experience over the past three decades. China has been hogging the headlines in recent months—and justifiably so. Around the world, analysts, investors and ...

Features

Features : Asia’s Other Tiger

India recently overtook China as Asia’s fastest-growing economy. It’s showing no signs of slowing down. India has long been a land of stark contrasts, and its recent economic growth has only added to them. Although constrained by poverty and third-world ...

Features : Moving

New instruments, government enthusiasm and a growing market are driving Islamic finance toward the mainstream. When Malaysia first laid the groundwork for what has become a thriving Islamic finance sector, much of its focus was on the need to provide ...

Features : National Bank of Kuwait

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Rising oil revenues and the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime have boosted Kuwait’s economy and created opportunities for National Bank of Kuwait,one of the largest and most profitable Persian Gulf banks. In January 2004 NBK became ...

Features : Offerings Market Heats Up

The European IPO market is building up an impressive head of steam, but investors aren’t prepared to buy just anything. The first quarter of this year was always expected to be a good one for European IPOs, but few dared ...

Features : Regional Winner: BSCH

LATIN AMERICA Spain’s largest bank has invested some $17 billion in recent years to build a virtual Latin American banking empire that spans the region, leading some to contend BSCH is spearheading Spain’s “re-conquest” of the Americas. Of the banking ...

Features : Regional Winner: HSBC

ASIA The HSBC Group continues to forge ahead in Asia’s emerging markets. Primarily through its Hong Kong based subsidiary, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, it has built a presence in a number of key countries. Its principle focus is ...

Features : Regional Winner: Raiffeisen Zentralbank

EUROPE Austria’s Raiffeisen Zentralbank Group (RZB) has been far more systematic in expanding its operations throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) than most of its rivals. Rather than cherry picking the biggest banks in the larger markets, RZB built up ...

Features : The Best Emerging Market Banks 2004

Emerging markets are poised to post their strongest growth in 20 years. Global Finance has picked the banks in 73 emerging market countries and four regions that have best been able to help their clients benefit from the upturn. All ...

Features : War on Poverty Rages On

As it prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the African Development Bank finds itself at the heart of a debate over the future of international aid and development funding. Members of the African Development Bank will gather at a resort ...

Features : Web Telephony Grows Up

Internet-based telecom technology has come of age and is now providing businesses with quantifiable benefits. It’s tax season and the accountants and partners at J.H. Cohn, the 13th biggest accounting and consulting firm in the United States, are jetting across ...

Emerging Markets

Features : Regional Winner: HSBC

ASIA The HSBC Group continues to forge ahead in Asia’s emerging markets. Primarily through its Hong Kong based subsidiary, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, it has built a presence in a number of key countries. Its principle focus is ...

Milestones : Latin America Leads Improved Emerging Markets Outlook

EMERGING MARKETS Enrique V. Iglesias The stars appear to have aligned in favor of the emerging markets. Strong growth, easing inflation, sustainable fiscal performance and improving creditworthiness are conspiring, according to WestLB, to give emerging markets their best economic prospects ...

Emerging Markets : Central Bank Turns The Screws

CHINA China’s central bank has pledged to restrain runaway investment and prevent asset bubbles from creating more bad loans.The People's Bank of China said it would fight inflation and dampen loan growth by increasing the ratio of deposits financial institutions ...

Emerging Markets : Lula's Honeymoon Is Over

BRAZIL Lula: Out in the cold? Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s unexpectedly pragmatic and market-friendly attitude helped endear him to financial market players in the year following his election. It seems that the honeymoon may now be over, ...

Emerging Markets : Reform, A Mea Culpa, And Investing Abroad

RUSSIA Yukos's Khodorkovsky Markets responded positively to the re-election of Russian President Vladimir Putin and to indications that he will pick up the pace on the structural reform program that was a key focus of his first term in office. ...

The World's Best Emerging Market Banks

Features : The Best Emerging Market Banks 2004

Emerging markets are poised to post their strongest growth in 20 years. Global Finance has picked the banks in 73 emerging market countries and four regions that have best been able to help their clients benefit from the upturn. All ...

Milestones

Milestones : Banking Associations Of The World Unite

GLOBAL The American Bankers Association and the European Banking Federation have joined with their counterparts in Canada and Australia to form the International Banking Federation, or IBFed. Although the leaders of the associations have met informally for a number of ...

Milestones : Latin America Leads Improved Emerging Markets Outlook

EMERGING MARKETS Enrique V. Iglesias The stars appear to have aligned in favor of the emerging markets. Strong growth, easing inflation, sustainable fiscal performance and improving creditworthiness are conspiring, according to WestLB, to give emerging markets their best economic prospects ...

Milestones : Traders Fear Seoul Will Devalue Its Way To Prosperity

SOUTH KOREA Lee Hun-Jae The South Korean won suffered its biggest decline since November on news that the progovernment Uri Party gained control of the National Assembly in last month’s general election. Foreign exchange traders blamed the drop in the ...

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance : Chinese Companies Lead Parade Of Asian Issuers

ASIA Semiconductor Manufacturing International, or SMIC, China’s biggest memory-chip maker, launched a sponsored American depositary receipt program in conjunction with its $1.8 billion global initial public offering.The ADRs are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. A host of Asian ...

Corporate Finance : Floating-Rate Issues Becoming Popular

THE AMERICAS When Calpine Generating, a subsidiary of California-based power producer Calpine, came to market in late February with a $2.3 billion offering of high-yield bonds and term loans, it met resistance from investors who already held large amounts of ...

Newsmakers

Editor's Letter : Dear Reader

It is too early to say definitively, but it looks as though the US Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, is regaining his form...

Newsmakers : Booming Bolsa Bodes Well For Mexican Economy

MEXICO Guillermo Prieto Treviño, president of the Mexican Stock Exchange, picked a good time to come to New York to promote investment in Mexico, with the bolsa hitting record highs. He says the rising market reflects a “stability premium” as ...

Newsmakers : China Fever Sparks Interest In Index

UNITED STATES/CHINA Tim Halter Chinese companies that trade on US stock markets offer some comfort to investors seeking to catch a ride on the China boom without taking too much risk, says Tim Halter, founder and managing director of USX ...

Newsmakers : Fed Chief Finds He Can Move Markets Once Again

UNITED STATES Alan Greenspan No matter how careful he is with his words, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is going to have a tough time shifting to a rising-interest-rate environment without messing things up. Segue is simply not in his ...

Newsmakers : New Leaders Pull Back From Privatization Program

SRI LANKA Mahinda Rajapakse Sri Lanka’s newly appointed finance minister Sarath Amunugama and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse have already gone on record saying the month-old government of the United People’s Freedom Alliance does not see privatization as the way to ...