The country faced a financial meltdown she asserted because it was riddled with crony capitalism

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The country faced a financial meltdown, she asserted, because it was riddled with crony capitalism. The lawyer painted a black picture of the country Greedy, self interested oligarchs were in charge, she said State assets were being ripped off There was no justice for investors outside an inner circle The men running Russia listened. As the lawyer finished, central bank chief Dubinin asked: "Were you describing the Russian economy or the US economy?"Emollient voices filled a shocked silence. But on Thursday at a meeting inside the now famous building 50 Western bankers and investors added a new image to their memory banks. From 6pm to 7.30pm Moscow time, Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, central bank chief Sergei Dubinin, and a clutch of other government officials stood at a podium explaining why, 10 days into a classic liquidity crisis, their country did not face a financial meltdown The meeting nearly came unstuck. YOU remember Boris Yeltsin on top of that tank outside Moscow's White House in August 1991. Your bank can take the matter up with the organisation's own sponsoring bank and, if necessary, that organisation's participation in the scheme will be withdrawn.There are occasions when a debiting organisation is not simply administratively sloppy but is actually defrauding customers.

Where there's a possibility of fraud, there is added reason to contact your bank.If you do ask for a direct debit payment to be refunded, consider cancelling the direct debit at the same time as a precaution. You may find your bank telling you that while an organisation agrees it has made a mistake on direct debit, nevertheless you still owe it some money. That's an entirely separate matter, outside the system, and nothing to do with your bank.If you have cancelled the direct debit, it will be up to the organisation to seek payment from you by other means.Write to the personal finance editor, 'Independent on Sunday', 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL and include a phone number, or fax 0171 293 2096, or e-mail i.berwick independent.co.uk. "They will have to get bigger to survive," he said.Others may resort to marketing alliances and shared systems to achieve economies of scale.Stephen Bollenbach, chief executive of Hilton Hotels, said last month that the prevailing capital market conditions "probably precluded" a merger with Ladbroke Group.Mr Bollenbach said the companies would concentrate instead on their alliance, whereby they share a logo, reward programmes, reservation systems and collaborate on advertising..

Paul Novak, executive vice-president of acquisitions and development, said the company wants to expand its Wyndham hotel brand in the UK and throughout Europe.Arthur Andersen's Mr Kyriakidis said large international chains will be at the forefront of future acquisitions. Bass, the owner of the Holiday Inn and Inter-Continental, and France's Accor are among those tipped to snap up luxury properties."The UK market is pretty fragmented. We will see a little bit more cherry picking by the international chains," he said. "They will be able to increase yields."Further consolidation could make life tough for smaller operators like Regal Hotel Group and Jarvis Hotel.Pannell Kerr Foster's Mr Lewis predicts they will be increasingly squeezed by the international chains at one end, and budget hotels like Whitbread's Travel Innat the other. Patriot American said that UK hotels still offered value, even though prices have risen.