Citicorp's top managers are changing jobs. The leviathan, about to open in its 100th country, is nevertheless shrinking its focus and its balance sheet. You may think it's a European institution. But the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sometimes looks exclusively French. Its French top management favours French companies and Gallic interests to the detriment of others.
Investors find it hard to laugh too.
The boys and girls at Nationsbank in Carolina have surprised everyone. The Achilles heel of Europe Germany is still pouring money into its eastern L nder, with repercussions for the whole of Europe. There are few signs yet that the patient will pull through. It generates a third of the profits of the world's biggest company and has bought 34 firms in two years. But analysts are getting jittery.