Central & Eastern Europe

  LEADING THE WAY   At the presidential palace in Ankara on July 21, Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, met with Global Finance for a wide-ranging interview covering Turkey’s role in the global economy and its international relations.   Global Finance: ...

WAITING IN THE WINGS   Egemen Bagis, chief negotiator, says the country’s reform efforts will pay off and admits that Turkey has made some mistakes in the past.   By Gordon Platt   Turkey somberly marked the 50th anniversary in ...

Turkish Banking   Turkey has a robust banking system that is ready to support the country’s economic growth.   By Gordon Platt   Tansan: “Turkey’s banks are the best in the world in terms of the strength of their capital ...

News   By Gordon Platt   Investors are pumping fresh money on a sustained basis into equity funds investing in emerging Europe, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global. In the week ended September 2, emerging Europe equity funds took in ...

Istanbul, October 6th, 2009 - Global Finance magazine hosted its thirteenth annual Best Bank Awards ceremony on October 6th, 2009, in Istanbul (Turkey), at the same time as the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank. More than 200 ...

DOWN BUT NOT OUT   Central and Eastern Europe was arguably the region hit hardest by the global downturn. It’s still suffering, but hopeful signs are clearly emerging.   By Justin Keay   It wasn’t meant to be like this. ...

Roundup   By Antonio Guerrero   Growth drive: India’s auto sector is thriving The US government has committed $2.45 billion for Indian borrowers through the US Export-Import Bank’s India Infrastructure Facility. Funds will be used for medium- and long-term dollar ...

Roundup   By Kim Iskyan On a lighter note: Medvedev and Obama share a joke In its 2010-12 draft federal budget, announced in late July, the Russian government calls for spending cuts, on the back of sharply reduced revenue expectations. ...

News   Russian Retailers’ Stocks Selling At Steep Discount   As a big emerging market, Russia offers opportunities for growth in the consumer sector, analysts say. For investors willing to look beyond the major oil stocks, which already have risen ...

With bank stability still high on corporate and investor agendas, Global Finance magazine publishes in the October 2009 issue its annual list of the world’s safest banks.   Global Finance has published its world’s safest banks listing for 18 years. ...

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BANKS 2008 Rank Name Country Fiscal Year Total Assets ($b) 1 Royal Bank of Scotland Group United Kingdom 12/2007 3,807 2 Deutsche Bank Germany 12/2007 2,974 3 BNP Paribas France 12/2007 2,494 4 Barclays United Kingdom 12/2007 ...

AFRICA REGIONAL WINNER Standard Chartered COUNTRY WINNER Algeria Arab Banking Corporation Algeria Angola BES Angola Botswana Standard Chartered Bank Botswana Cote d’Ivoire Ecobank Ethiopia NIB International Bank Gambia Trust Bank Ghana Ghana Commercial Bank Guinea International Commercial Bank Kenya Barlcays ...

NEW YORK, July 21, 2009 — Global Finance has announced the First Round winners in the “World’s Best Internet Banks” competition in the Middle East and Africa. This is the 10th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Internet ...

BANK CATEGORIES Domestic VTB Foreign Citi Regional UralSib Domestic Investment Troika Dialog Foreign Investment Credit Suisse Commercial Sberbank Consumer Raiffeisen Foreign Exchange VTB Domestic Trade Finance VTB International Trade Finance Deutsche Bank Asset Manager Troika Dialog Fixed Income Sales & ...

Roundup   By Kim Iskyan   Medvedev: Promoting Moscow as finance center Russia unexpectedly announced that it was abandoning its quest to join the World Trade Organization on its own in favor of applying to enter as a bloc with ...

  After a difficult year, Russia's fortunes look set to improve. The country is still too dependent on oil for its future prosperity, though.     By Nick Kochan   While analysts tend to compare Russia with the other BRIC ...

Amid expectations that the Russian economy had hit bottom, and despite a solid bounce in commodity prices since the beginning of the year, bad news continued to pile up.   By Kim Iskyan   Industrial production shrank by 17% in ...

The first meeting between US president Barack Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, at the Group of 20 summit in London in early April, appeared to lay the foundation for an improvement in relations, which had plunged to fresh post-Cold ...

  EUROPE IN CRISIS     Many of Europe’s former star economies are still struggling to find their feet after falling prey to the credit crunch. By Laurence Neville   Emerging Europe is on the edge of a precipice. Already ...

ON A KNIFE EDGE TURKEY   Turkey is well positioned to weather a global downturn, but it still faces some tough economic challenges.   Tansan: Ankara must hold out for the best possible terms from the IMF. There was a ...