Madrid's robust financial business model has enabled the city to survive the global recession relatively unscathed. Now the Spanish capital is looking to leverage its world-class business environment and transport facilities to strengthen its presence in Latin America, says Isabel Martin Castellá.
Vision to reality: Yeouido is earmarked to become Asia's leading financial hubBased on strong economic fundamentals and improving infrastructure, Seoul is gearing up to become a key player in the new global financial paradigm, says Paul Moon, director-general of Seoul's Investment Bureau.
While the Western world has been struggling through the global financial crisis, Latin America has shown a remarkable resilience to the upheaval. Two countries in particular - Colombia and Peru - are showing particularly impressive growth, and look set to become important emerging economies. Writer Jason Mitchell
Ralph Gonsalves, St Vincent and Grenadines prime ministerThe currency union of the Organisation of East Caribbean States is eyeing additional members and full economic union status. The prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines ponders the future of the OECS and its impact on the wider Caricom group of countries. Writer Brian Caplen
If efforts to avert a deepening global recession are to succeed, support for global trade is vital, but banks that have avoided the consequences of the subprime crisis cannot carry the trade finance burden alone. Ashutosh Kumar, global head of trade product management at Standard Chartered Bank, outlines ways in which these banks can make further capacity available.
Paul Camp, global head of cash management financial institutions, global transaction banking, Deutsche BankBanks are under pressure to generate revenue, reduce costs and mitigate risks in the recession. At the same time, investment needs have never been higher. So which is the best way forward for banks attempting to meet client demands for cash management services?
In these straitened times, effective cash management has rapidly become the priority for both banks and their customers, but this return to so-called back-to-basics banking is anything but basic. This guide charts the changing cash management landscape and how banks can navigate it in order to come out on top when the global economic downturn subsides. Writer Charlie Corbett
Jacob Zuma, South Africa's new presidentSome of the world's most powerful leaders and investors met in Cape Town last month for the World Economic Forum. They discussed the impact of the global downturn on Africa and how the continent could use it as an opportunity to build a platform for growth. Writer Charlie Corbett in Cape Town
Close adherence to international regulatory standards has protected Madrid's financial system from embroilment in the subprime market that has so badly harmed rival centres New York, London and Paris. Yet Spain's flailing economy must be tended to if Madrid is to rise as a dynamic alternative. Writer Rodrigo Amaral
Press conference on co-operation between the Latin American development banks (l to r): Enrique Garcia, CAF president; Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB president; Jyrki Koskelo, IFC vice-president for Europe, central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and global financial markets; and Pamela Cox, World Bank vice-president for Latin America and the CaribbeanThe slump in capital markets activity and a decline in cash flow has pushed Latin America's multilateral development banks to prominence as the biggest and most robust lenders in some of the region's principal credit markets. Writer Jane Monahan in Washington, DC