Alarmist predictions, while unfounded, present opportunities for investors, says William Browder.

Serbia’s decision to focus on selling banks is drawing Greek institutions into the country, despite continuing political risk. Kerin Hope reports.

Since Viktor Yushchenko was elected president, a gold rush has begun in banking as foreign institutions begin to move in. Ben Aris reports from Kiev.

Austria’s Raiffeisen International (RZB) is in exclusive takeover talks with Ukraine’s second-largest commercial bank, Aval. “We are in talks that we have agreed will be mutual until May,” said the chief executive of Raiffeisen International, Herbert Stepic. “We want to take over the bank entirely.”

Croatia’s banking system has changed dramatically in the past few years with the rise in foreign ownership but the country is still overbanked. 

The Croatian government has planned a tight schedule of reform and economic targets in its efforts at convergence with the EU.

Russia’s investment rating upgrade is good news for the bond market as Vladimir Putin faces the first real opposition to his government since his election to the presidency five years ago. Ben Aris reports.

A plentiful source of finance for Russian corporates with access to Western capital, syndicated loans are emerging as a domestic funding option.

Russia’s bond market has been quiet after last year’s banking scare. But it looks set to take off again with a bang, as Ben Aris reports from Moscow.

Though such thinking is indicative of the attention bank executives are paying to their core businesses, steps are being taken that will change the playing field. Though it appears as bordering on counter-intuitive, most mid-sized banks are making a sustained push to drive up retail customer numbers as a means of cashing in on the country’s rising tide of consumerism.