Steven Irvine Portugal Time for family planning Portugal's banks have returned to public ownership, but behind the scenes, the heads of the country's old banking families, Antonio Champalimaud, Jose de Mello and Jorge Jardim Gonclaves, still wield power. They will shape coming take-overs. Jules Stewart Saudi Arabia Pressure builds up for change Saudi Arabia has been slower than some neighbours to open up and improve its capital markets. It must, to attract essential private capital. Consolidation is inevitable for banks before Greece joins the single currency in, it hopes, 2001.
Privatization is underway.
Of 42 banks, maybe four will thrive. The prospect of leading sovereign and corporate bond deals and IPOs for high-tech Israeli companies has attracted many foreign banks to Tel Aviv. Nick Kochan EC Euromoney bank atlas Top banks in 108 countries and the world's top 200 banks HSBC Holdings retains top spot in the annual ranking of the world's largest 200 banks. Includes rankings by shareholders equity and market capitalization, plus country rankings. Mexico Back with a vengeance Mexico has put the peso crisis begind it and is attracting a wide range of investors as well as wooing back the ones it lost.