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This has been a tough year for corporate issuers in Australia's securitization sector – battling with ratings agencies, accountants and reams of paperwork in a post-Enron environment has been time consuming if nothing else. But however high the fees, securitization makes for cheaper funding at the end of the day and is without doubt worthwhile, concludes the panel of a roundtable discussion hosted in Sydney by Asiamoney's Fiona Haddock.

AriaWest and Telkom are close to resolving one of the most acrimonious corporate disputes in Indonesia's turbulent history. But it's not over yet; not until it is approved by a diverse group of lenders. Even if the deal does go through, the messages it sends about foreign investment in emerging markets ventures are worth heeding. By Chris Wright and Maggie Ford.

Following a year of disciplinary nightmares in Asia, CSFB appointed Paul Calello chairman and CEO for the region in March – the first time the continent has warranted a CEO position. His arrival is symptomatic of the way global CEO John Mack is trying to revamp the entire firm. Calello explains some of those changes to Chris Wright.

Standing room only for Petronas deal

There's no change at the top of our cash management poll this year: Citibank is voted best regional cash management bank in Asia for the fourth consecutive year, and more or less sweeps the board in the local categories. Our respondents air their views on delivery, on-line reporting, outsourcing and how they think banks can enhance their cash management services. By Olivia Chow and Robert Law.

Imagine having the chance to set economic policy for your country – before that country even exists. That's the situation East Timor's prime minister Mari Alkatiri found himself in when he spoke to Asiamoney in May. He explains his views and hopes for the world's newest nation to Ben Rogers.

James B Quigley, the newly appointed president of Merrill Lynch International and senior vice president of its global client strategies group, is a man of statistics. He begins his interview with Asiamoney, on a Saturday morning in a Shangri-La suite overlooking Shanghai's Bund, with a litany of personal achievement, and perhaps he's earned the right to be a little immodest. “I grew up in a Merrill Lynch where the culture was very focused on market share and market dominance, steeped in the tradition of Dan Tully and Dave Komansky,” he begins. “The businesses we created were number one in global debt underwriting for 13 years, 14 years in the US – 58 consecutive quarters.” Here are more Quigley numbers: in a 35-minute interview he speaks 5,247 words, which is getting on for an average of three per second even without Asiamoney's more ponderous interruptions, and uses the phrase ‘holistic view of the client' eight times. In the face of a difficult past year for Merrill Lynch, with succession issues, redundancies and a damaging SEC investigation, Quigley is as bullish as the bank's own logo, a driven and vocal enthusiast who is brutally honest but never less than fanatical about the bank he has devoted his adult life to. As a reflection of this and the outrageously successful New York debt business he helped build, he has recently been promoted.

Remember the man we profiled last July, who said he was going to make progress in selling India's assets where so many have failed? Well, he's getting somewhere. Arun Shourie, who we last met in his spartan New Delhi government offices last May, is the minister for disinvestment, and has a reputation as one of the cleanest men in Indian politics. A renowned and extremely critical journalist for many years, he found himself on the other side of scrutiny when he took on the ministerial portfolio. It hasn't all been easy: at the time of our first meeting, the long-awaited landmark sale of Balco was held up by strikes, labour disagreements and law suits. “Don't get alarmed – in fact welcome such difficulties and wade through them,” he said at the time, with an optimism shared by pretty much nobody else in the country.

Has cross-border securitization in Korea become so commonplace that it is commoditized? Some practitioners are beginning to think so. The country continues to dominate the asset-backed businesses of international banks in the region, with every month bringing reports of a new transaction or a new mandate. But is anything really new? asks Chris Wright.

France has dominated European issuance in the first half of the year with Eu16bn of issuance coming from several sources. And with the burgeoning pipeline of deals awaited from the French government, issuance is not expected to slow. Tom Illsley looks at the highs and lows of 2002's power-player in the European equity capital markets.

With the completion of the French elections and an overwhelming victory for the centre-right party, all eyes in the European equity capital markets are fully focused on France and the expected disposal programme by the government. While France has been subjected to quite an extensive privatisation process, there are still a few jewels in the government's crown left to sell.

With France's political drama over, bankers' attention turns to how the newly elected administration will manage its state owned companies. Privatisation is the watchword, and, wary of ratings agency action, some of France's top names are already marketing themselves with savoir faire. Neil Day asks if these revered and tightly priced entities can find support from international investors when their capital is freed.