Instead of being defeated by the political upheavals in Lebanon, the nation’s leading financial institution has acquired valuable banking lessons from repeated domestic crises as it embarks on a second wave of growth beyond its home borders. Blom Bank is parlaying its historic reputation for low-risk, innovative trade finance into full-service operations in some of […]

Japan’s big banks, unburdened by heavy subprime losses, and stuck with sputtering growth at home, are once again investing and lending abroad, but investors should not expect a string of blockbuster buyouts. Only a few years removed from a bad-loan crisis that pushed many lenders to the brink of collapse and sparked widespread industry consolidation, […]

Just how bad is the global economic outlook? The lack of a consensus answer to that question is telling. Normally, the financial institutions that steer the world economy show a degree of agreement. But these are uncertain times. The International Monetary Fund said recently that the credit crunch had cost financial firms a stunning $945bn; […]

Slovenia’s business makeover has not been a bumpy ride experienced by other economies in transition at the beginning of the 1990s. Slovenian companies were a target for foreign interest as early as in the late 1970s thanks to Slovenia’s manufacturers of household appliances, cars and commercial vehicles, furniture and garments. Conveniently nestled between Austria and […]

A year ago, it all seemed so much simpler. Following a bumper year in 2006, most economists were looking for a continuation of the good times into last year. Some talked about worries over the health of the US economy, but the expectation was that any downturn would be short-lived. Sub-prime may have been on […]