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In this round-up, China’s industrial profit growth moderates in May, Geely Automobile Holdings will not pursue a planned listing on the Star market in Shanghai, and Beijing approves the first onshore perpetual bond from a policy lender.

The demand for sustainable finance has exploded in the last few years. It is a hotbed of innovation as debt issuers look to make the most of investors’ desire to fund a better world. This week, GlobalCapital considers one of the most recent innovations: sustainability-linked debt.

Could San Francisco-headquartered Wells Fargo crack EMEA DCM? Its latest hire suggests that it is about to have a swing at it.

I have used Covid-19 as an excuse to avoid some unwanted social occasions over the last year or so, but a friend of mind has taken his Covid isolation to a new level.

The European initial public offering market has been difficult for months, but new listings are still being brought to market with little regard for whether investors want to buy them. Instead of trying to ram deals through to satisfy a pre-arranged timeline, banks should be advising their clients to delay listings that don’t work in these conditions.

When the European Commission excluded 10 of its primary dealers from its debut Next Generation EU syndicated transaction last week on the grounds that they had been found to have violated anti-trust rules, some bankers branded it “unfair”. It may be a harsh penalty, but surely bookrunners should face the same scrutiny as issuers when it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

The recent round of M&A and leveraged buyout financing provided by Chinese banks shows their growing ambition in the more complicated and riskier part of Asia’s loan market.

In this round-up, the Chinese central bank leaves the benchmark lending rate stable for the 14th consecutive month in June, and the interbank bond regulator issues a warning to an onshore bank and accuses another of allegedly breaking underwriting rules.

You’d have to have been living in a cave — or perhaps an unfashionable coal mine — not to have noticed that sustainable finance is booming. But you might be forgiven for not picking up on the major shifts that have been taking place in the discipline in recent years.

There were likely some well earned fist bumps and high fives going on in Brussels this week after the EU inaugurated its Next Generation funding programme with a triumphant €20bn outing. But things won’t always be so smooth for the issuer.

We always hope to influence our children for the best, but it’s amazing what they pick up.

GlobalCapital reveals today the winners of its Bond Awards 2021, including celebration of the achievement of top corporate banks and issuers — and Lifetime Achievement Awards for two of Europe’s most prominent corporate funding officials.