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In this round-up, the State Council flags up risks at regional financial institutions in China, measures have been announced to relax market access in the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the Guangzhou government details a plan to develop the financial industry and support cross-border businesses in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In this round-up, Beijing plans to beef up capital requirements for domestic systemically important banks, foreign investors reduce their investment in domestic Chinese bonds in March, and JD.com’s technology unit is reportedly planning to set up a financial holding company.

Banks shouldn’t let conceptual considerations stand in the way of them issuing sustainability-linked bonds.

Hong Kong has now vaccinated half a million people, after rolling its vaccine out to all comers last month. There have been a few hiccups – the discovery of packaging defects caused a temporary halt to the AstraZeneca jab — but most people have now had the first of their required two shots.

Asia’s capital markets had a hot first quarter, with volumes soaring across both DCM and ECM. Momentum still appears strong — but market participants should brace themselves for a tough time ahead.

The disastrous listing of food delivery app company Deliveroo in London last week sent shockwaves through equity capital markets, with some suggesting it will dampen Europe’s IPO market in the next few weeks. But it needn't be as bad as all that. Investors are keen to take part in IPOs — they just need greater discounts that match their perceptions of risk.

Deliveroo and its shareholders raised £1.5bn this week. The IPO was a dog, priced at the bottom of its range and falling 20% on its debut. But it’s hard to feel sympathy for the investors.

Institutional private credit is emerging as a competitive substitute for bank lending in Europe, but companies need to remember that alternative lenders define what they are looking for more narrowly than banks.

The best relationships are ones entirely bereft of contact. The pandemic has made that possible.

The fact that a large US insurance company could offer the English Football League better lending terms than UK banks or other investors is revealing. UK lenders are shying away from deals, which has opened the doors to institutional investors. The speed with which a tailor-made EFL deal was done shows how quickly they can replace traditional creditors.

Fix Price, the Russian discount retailer, became a public company at the beginning of March in a $1.9bn IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Its CFO Anton Makhnev sat down with GlobalCapital to discuss the deal.

Asian lenders have often balked at dividend recaps. They should reconsider.