As the political stand-off in Georgia between the new prime minister and president shows no sign of abating, the country’s economy is showing resilience and its banks are eyeing opportunities to strengthen growth by tapping into the country's unbanked population.

The European Central Bank has helped assuage fears of an imminent eurozone breakup, but sovereign, supranational and agency debt management officials must still contend with ratings downgrades and difficult political and fiscal situations in a number of countries. The Banker hears from a range of EU issuers both inside and outside the eurozone.

Although foreign banks may be reining in finance for their subsidiaries in central and eastern Europe, any transition to local currency bond financing looks likely to be gradual.

As Basel III regulations come into play, banks looking for a quick fix to bulky balance sheets are divesting their trade finance assets, creating a gap in the market that investor groups and other alternative financiers are keen to fill.

The breadth of MasterCard's portfolio of payment solutions would have been unimaginable when the president of global technology and operations at MasterCard Technologies, Robert Reeg, started his career, but with 85% of global transactions still in cash, he explains the importance of pressing ahead with yet more innovation.

Acquisitions by both private and state-owned banks in Russia are gradually concentrating the top end of the banking sector, but the long tail of closely held and regional banks remains.