What else is going on?
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People and MarketsCommentP&M Notebook

What else is going on?

For the past few days, there has only been one story on everyone's minds

From the moment Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" on Thursday morning, capital markets professionals' eyes have been glued to screens, watching a shockingly comprehensive invasion of Ukraine unfold and searching for updates on how western powers would respond.

GlobalCapital has been keeping subscribers updated on the impact in the capital markets as deals were postponed, investors took shelter, the market assessed the ability of Russian borrowers to repay their debts, sanctions were formulated and central banks reviewed their monetary policy plans. By Friday morning, we had published 12 articles on the rapidly evolving situation, which readers can find together in a special section of our website.

But the war is also a human crisis, and when they were not catching up on the impact on markets, those working in them were absorbing stories of people seeking to flee the embattled nation, or taking up arms to defend it; of anti-war protesters being arrested in Russian cities; or of seasoned commentators simply trying to understand the psychological motivation driving Putin.

In the circumstances, people could be forgiven for ignoring any content that was not Ukraine-related. It was probably not the best timing, therefore, for Lloyds to announce its annual results, including £6.9bn pre-tax profit, and strategy update. Market participants may therefore have missed the UK bank's plans to expand its dollar debt financing business and launch a new supply chain financing proposition later this year.

The eruption of war in Europe also cast a shadow over Chile's plans to issue the first ever sustainability-linked sovereign bond, which it has just started marketing. Two emerging markets portfolio manager in the US told GlobalCapital that they had not had time to look at the structure properly because they were dealing with the fallout from the invasion.

Distractions

Those looking for a distraction from the grim news in eastern Europe might be tempted to take refuge in the virtual worlds, collectively known as the metaverse, that are attracting increased attention these days, including from big banks such as JP Morgan.

A couple of weeks ago, the US firm opened a virtual lounge in one such online environment known as Decentraland.

When GlobalCapital visited the outpost recently to see what all the fuss was about, it seemed to serve little purpose other than publicity — not that there is anything wrong with that.

christine moy.JPG

But it also showcased some of the teething pains that early entrants to the metaverse are subjected to. The first challenge was to find the place — not as easy as might be imagined in an online universe where instant teleportation is possible.

When your correspondent finally made it to JP Morgan's digital office, there was another visitor who claimed to be a crypto investor from Gibraltar, though this was impossible to verify thanks to the anonymity afforded to users of the platform.

Anyway, the self-proclaimed crypto investor was giving his thoughts on Decentraland — comparing it unfavourably to life simulation video game The Sims, which was first published in 2000 — when GlobalCapital was unceremoniously ejected from the virtual world and confronted with lines of indecipherable code.

Christine Moy, a founding member of JP Morgan's blockchain unit, who spearheaded the bank's push into the metaverse, recently revealed that she was leaving the firm to pursue another opportunity. She declined to go into more detail when contacted by GlobalCapital.

Meanwhile, there was also the surprising news of John Winter's resignation as MUFG's top banker in EMEA, only a year after assuming the position and just two years after he joined the firm in a senior position.

It will be the second retirement for the former debt capital markets banker. The first was in 2016, when he retired as CEO of Barclays' corporate banking division, aged 52.

Keep scrolling for all of the week's people and markets headlines from GlobalCapital.

Do you have a new job or a new hire to tell us about? Send it in confidence to richard.metcalf@globalcapital.com or call +44 (0)20 7779 7315.

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