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Features : Banking On Innovation

BEST INTERNET BANKS 2008 In the second of a two-part series, Global Finance identifies the best corporate/institutional and consumer Internet banks globally and in six regions. These are tough times for banks to focus on Internet ...

Banking

Features : Best Laid Plans

MIDDLE EAST Determined to avoid repeating past mistakes, oil-rich nations in the Middle East have worked hard to diversify their economies. So far they have fared well, but pitfalls remain. Oil is integral to the Middle East's economic fortunes, ...

Banking

Emerging Markets : Sukuk Squeeze Triggers Debate

MIDDLE EAST Safa: Credit crunch could boost sukuk in the longer term. Asudden slowdown in the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, could be the result of the global credit crunch, a ruling by a committee ...

Banking

Features : A Very British Meltdown

A VERY BRITISH MELTDOWN A SYSTEM IN PERIL The swiftness of Britain’s transition from the cutting edge of innovation in banking and finance to representing the epitome of the global crisis has left many heads spinning. But in its dramatic ...

Banking

Features : Banking On Innovation

BANKING ON INNOVATION SYSTEMIC RISK Businesses are finding imaginative ways to circumvent the credit crunch. The solutions they adopt now could have profound implications for their future operations. For months this year, pessimists had been predicting a global financial ...

Banking

Features : Islamic Finance

BACK TO BASICS ISLAMIC FINANCING The core ethical principles of Islamic finance have protected the industry from the worst effects of the credit crunch. A customer makes a transaction at Emirates Bank in Dubai. One segment of the financial ...

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Features : World’s Best Derivatives Providers 2008

BEST DERIVATIVES PROVIDERS 2008 Global Finance’s fifth annual awards for the World’s Best Derivatives Providers come against a backdrop of unprecedented change in financial markets. The long bull market came to an end last year. In its place ...

Banking

Features : The Threat From Within

AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE Despite the increasingly sophisticated solutions deployed to prevent it, rogue trading is still a serious problem in the banking industry. Every year banks spend billions deploying sophisticated filtering and electronic “perimeter fence” technologies to try to ...

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Features : World’s Best Banks 2008

ANNUAL SURVEY / WORLD’S BEST BANKS 2008 Now more than ever, the world’s best banks deserve recognition for continuing to provide excellent products and high levels of service to their clients, despite the distractions of the global credit ...

Banking

Newsmakers : Global Leaders Paint Bleak Picture

AUSTRIA Citi's Rhodes: Current crisis is the US' biggest challenge in recent history. With Bank of America buying Merrill Lynch and Lehman’s filing for bankruptcy, the global credit crunch is clearly far from over. In fact, a ...

Banking

Emerging Markets : Banks Seek Growth After Profits Slide

BRAZIL Digging in: Brazilian miner Vale is investing heavily. After several years of steady profit growth, Brazil’s banking sector reported a slowdown in second-quarter 2008. Bradesco, Brazil’s largest non-state bank by assets, posted a 13% drop in second-quarter ...

Banking

Features : A Safe Haven

SPOTLIGHT / GLOBAL CUSTODY Global custodians are experiencing strong growth and increasingly complex demands from their clients. Propelled by the growth in increasingly sophisticated financial instruments and the emergence of new markets and clients, the universe of financial assets ...