Credit woes have spread into the mid-market, drying up many areas of activity. But for those banks in the right products and geographies, there is still business to be done. And for those with cash, it's a good time to build. As late as December 2007, many hoped that the mid-market banking sector would avoid the worst of the financial market turmoil. With a primary focus on equity markets, their books were not loaded with toxic debt, their clients looked in pretty good shape and deals were still being done. Although London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the world's biggest growth market, could not compare with the stellar performance of 2006 when it listed a record 278 companies, it still attracted almost 200 new listings and raised ￡16.1bn in 2007.
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