Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Burak Kaya is joining MUFG Turkey to lead its corporate banking activity for non-Japanese firms.

Investors eyeing Ukraine will have to wait until next year for a clearer view on how friendly the country is to foreign capital, after a court delayed a decision on the fight over Privatbank, the scandal dominating the country's financial affairs.

Grigory Sedov has joined Renaissance Capital as global head of private clients.

There are fundamental reasons for UK assets to be revalued upwards, analysts believe. The powerful majority achieved by Boris Johnson's Conservatives tilts the UK towards a Trump-like market-friendly, fiscally generous patch. But the reality of Brexit cannot be ignored for long.

Russian issuance has been a success story in what has otherwise been a largely disappointing year for the EMEA equity capital markets. Positive momentum should carry through into 2020 with hope that IPOs will follow a good year for blocks and beef up the Russian stock market

After the Federal Reserve’s hawkish attitude in 2018, a more dovish mood at the US central bank meant that 2019 was smooth sailing for many emerging market borrowers. However, political storms meant the turbulent asset class still threw up its share of rocks for borrowers to navigate. The GlobalCapital editorial team selected the best deals of the year, considering not just the eventual result of the trade, but the backdrop against which the deals were sold. The winners are presented here. Congratulations to those involved.

Five years after the US and EU slapped sanctions on Russia following its invasion of the Crimean peninsula, the country’s capital markets are doing far better than many expected. Mariam Meskin reports

Ukraine’s political establishment was shaken up and, in large part, replaced by newcomers early in 2019. The lead up to the election was fraught, as investors’ fear of the unknown drove up Ukrainian rates. But President Zelensky swiftly won over the international community, setting up a superb run of borrowing.

Turkey’s position economically, and from a capital markets standpoint, is better at the end of 2019 than it was a year ago. However, that is not to say all is well with the country — far from it. Prospects for 2020 are, at best, mixed with growing concerns over central bank independence and high debt levels

Emerging markets borrowers have been much slower to join the caravan of green and sustainability-linked financing that has swept up so many companies in western Europe. This is not because firms in CEEMEA are indifferent. As Mariam Meskin reports, interest is spreading, but companies must overcome practical obstacles, which will take time

New sources of capital and new financing models are appearing for emerging markets borrowers as investors broaden the search for yield. As Mariam Meskin reports, traditional EM bank lenders and bond buyers now find themselves battling direct lenders and private capital markets

Since the global financial crisis, central banks have accumulated powers over regulation and supervision of markets as well as over monetary policy. In 2019 politicians began to erode that with interventions that have raised questions over who should control markets. By Phil Thornton