Strict regulation, high capital and reserve requirements, and low levels of debt mean Brazil's banks are flourishing and in a good position to capitalise if their US and European competitors should pull back. Writer Brian CaplenCover stars: Brazilian bankers are still feted rather than reviled, unlike their colleagues in the US and Europe
A set of good results from an international bank is all too rare an occurrence in the current financial climate but Standard Chartered showed it is possible by announcing last month that income rose by 26% and profits by 13% in 2008. Chief executive Peter Sands explains how it was done. Writer Brian Caplen
BNP Paribas has been expanding its businesses globally, both through acquisition and organic growth, and the previously predominant French operations are slowly but surely decreasing in significance. In an interview with Brian Caplen, CEO Baudouin Prot says that the anchor to all the bank’s business remains its retail base.