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These Group of 20 officials, meeting in South Korea beginning on Friday, face even greater pressure to deliver something substantive after the United States delayed a hotly anticipated report on whether China (or any other country) was manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who will chair a G20 leaders summit in Seoul next month, said his biggest concern was that "conflicts of interest between countries could develop into trade protectionism."

This wasn't how leaders envisioned things playing out.

When G20 leaders met in Pittsburgh a little over a year ago, they were so confident they had succeeded in ending the global crisis that they declared, "It worked."

This week's meeting of finance ministers was supposed to be relatively quiet, a final planning session to put the finishing touches on agreements, sketched out in Pittsburgh, to be signed at the Seoul leaders summit.

Instead, a sluggish recovery in advanced economies and prospects for another round of Federal Reserve money printing have driven down the dollar. China's tightly managed currency has followed, while the euro, yen, real and other currencies have risen. Investor money has poured into faster-growing emerging markets, and some are at risk of overheating.

"You have to be worried that other countries are getting cranky about the rise in their currencies," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officers of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.

David Woo, head of global rates and currencies research at BofA Merrill Lynch, said the dollar's decline was orderly thus far, but policymakers would be on the watch for any sign that it was pushing up commodity prices.

"While a weaker dollar is desirable, a disorderly adjustment, which would exacerbate stagflation risks and undermine credibility, is not," he said.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

"Disorderly" and "volatile" are two favorite terms for policymakers to describe undesirable foreign exchange moves, and they have cropped up repeatedly in comments from European officials this month.

If the G20 finance leaders' closing statement this weekend includes nothing more than a repeat of those phrases, it would signal they are not prepared to embark on a "Plaza Accord" type of currency realignment plan.

The G20 is having enough trouble showing progress on the plans already agreed -- particularly a framework for balanced global growth introduced in Pittsburgh last year.

Since that gathering, the global economy has reverted back to some of its old patterns.

Bank shares fell sharply on Friday on very high volume, continuing a slide from the previous day. Although recovering some of their losses, Bank of America (BAC.N) shares hit their lowest in more than a year, while the KBW bank index .BKX> fell 2.4 percent.

Shares of Bank of America, the nation's largest mortgage lender, fell 9 percent during the week. More than 595.9 million of its shares traded on Friday, the most since April 2009 and over four times the 50-day moving average.

Investors worry banks did not follow proper due diligence when foreclosing on homes whose owners were not making mortgage payments, which could result in costly litigation, fines and additional mortgage repurchases.

Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey, said that situation could also weigh on the housing market if the uncertainty discouraged buyers from entering into contracts on properties under foreclosure.

"That speculative investor on the margin may choose to not to engage in that activity, which means there's the potential that you could have some weakness in demand, particularly in the lower-end speculative range of the housing market," he said.

BANK EXECS ON FIRING LINE

Investors will pepper bank executives with questions when those companies present earnings reports this week. Banks reporting results include Wells Fargo (WFC.N), Bank of America, and Citigroup Inc (C.N), three of the largest mortgage lenders in the nation.

The broad S&P financial sector is expected to show earnings of $27.7 billion in the third quarter, a 71 percent increase over a year earlier, although third-quarter revenue growth is seen falling 6 percent to $252.9 billion.

However, earnings estimates have been cut on some banks. Financials with the biggest reductions in earnings estimates for the quarter in the latest week are Goldman Sachs (GS.N), PNC Financial (PNC.N), and Citigroup, according to John Butters, director of U.S. earnings at Thomson Reuters.

The financial sector has been a conundrum in the latest market rally since the start of September. The KBW index .BKXhas gained only 4 percent at a time when the broader S&P 500 has rallied nearly 12 percent.

David Giroux, who runs T. Rowe Price's $9.4 billion Capital Appreciation Fund, said expectations that deflation would weigh on bank earnings in the near term was pressuring the sector. He said banks were now attractively valued and the sector is the fund's largest, making up nearly 15 percent of assets.

"Most of the large banks are asset sensitive, which means that as rates rise, their profits should rise," he said. "So if you're a big believer in deflation, which the market has become a big believer in ... financials do poorly."

Giroux said a second round of stimulus from the Federal Reserve was unnecessary as inflation was already present in the system. Hopes the Fed will pump billions into the economy have helped drive stocks higher recently.

The Fed will release its Beige Book during the week and that will provide another insight into the central bank's thinking on the economy. On Friday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted more monetary stimulus was on the way.

AIA, which aims to raise up to $20.5 billion through an Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), said it plans to sell up to 8.08 billion shares in an indicative range of HK$18.38-19.68 each, setting it on course to be the third-biggest IPO ever.

Tucker, who has about 17 years experience of running life insurance business in Asia, was named AIA CEO in a surprise move in July replacing Mark Wilson. Tucker is credited with building rival Prudential plc's (PRU.L) Asia business.

"There has been an incredibly enthusiastic response to this," Tucker told Hong Kong media via video conference about the AIA IPO. Shortage of time was the only issue he was grappling with, Tucker quipped.

"If we could add another add another 20 hours to a day, that would be perfect," Tucker said, flanked by -- Christopher Wei, group chief marketing officer, Jon Nielsen, regional chief financial office, and John Chu, group chief investment officer.

Some analysts have said that bailed-out insurer AIG's stake in AIA could be an overhang on AIA. Even if AIG exercises all its options under the offer, it would be left with a 33 percent stake in AIA which it cannot sell for one year.

"This is not a concern. AIG are clear in terms of their divestment..., this is not an issue in any of the conversation that we have had," Tucker, 52, said from San Francisco.

"AIG comes into this an enthusiastic and supportive shareholder. AIG are very supportive of allowing AIA to be able to run the company for the benefits and value of all of shareholders," Tucker said in his first media conference since taking over as the CEO.

RETAIL OFFER

AIA's retail offer opens on Monday, and the IPO is scheduled to be priced on October 21. The shares would start trading on October 29. A Reuters poll released last week said that AIG was likely to price the offer at HK$19.14 each, well above the mid-point range.

Tucker aims to grow the business organically as opposed to through acquisitions. "We have enormous headroom here," he added.

The offering will also help bailed-out insurer AIG to pay back part of the aid it received from the U.S. government during the financial crisis.

Still, Tucker will have to do a lot of work to expand its business in China. "AIA currently has access to 1/3 of China's total life insurance premiums and a population of over 200 million people. We believe we can grow market share by penetrating second and third tier cities," he said.

AIA expects strong demand for accident and health products, given the lack of state funded safety net, rising longevity and increasing need for health care products.

AIA has more than 23 million in-force policies and over 300,000 agents. It earns only about 8 percent of premiums from bancassurance, under which insurers use the branch networks of banks to sell their products.