Turkey’s government wants to establish Istanbul as an international financial hub in time for the country’s 100th anniversary as a republic in 2023. The country's geographical location certainly works to its advantage, but it has much to achieve in just 10 years. Will it succeed?
Indonesia's banks were hit particularly hard during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, but they have made a strong recovery and now rank higher than their Association of South-east Asian Nations neighbours in terms of return on capital.
New financial regulations may be helping to restore investor confidence but, according to the CEO of Dexia Asset Management, they are also in danger of shaping a new investment landscape that could cause further damage to the global economy in the long term.
Latin America's buoyant economies are attracting a slew of foreign institutions, with banks from within Latin America itself and from further afield establishing substantial networks across the continent. Unsurprisingly, the largest foreign-owned subsidiary presence is in Brazil, but the large domestic market has quelled Brazilian banks' ambitions elsewhere and it is Colombian lenders that are forging ahead with cross-border acquisitions.
Ongoing economic and regulatory uncertainty is playing to the advantage of established international financial centres, particularly London, which, despite the recent Libor scandal, has been named the most attractive financial centre in The Banker’s 2012 global asset management survey.