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The transition of Asia’s capital markets away from Libor got a small boost recently when Korea Development Bank sold the region’s second public dollar bond linked to the new benchmark lending rate, Sofr. But the pace of change is not fast enough.

Much of Notebook’s focus was on the UK this week where the government's Budget threw up the creation of a new SSA issuer (maybe, at some point) and the distinct possibility of Threadneedle Street turning green.

In this round-up, smaller Chinese firms see the slowest growth in manufacturing and services activity since mid-2020, the head of the Chinese banking and insurance regulator is wary of bubbles bursting in foreign markets, and the onshore sale of the so-called ‘carbon neutrality bonds’ moves from the interbank market to the smaller exchange market.

In this special round-up on China’s annual Two Sessions parliamentary meeting, the central government sets a conservative annual growth target for the Chinese economy in 2021, signals a modest tightening in fiscal and monetary policies, and plans to broaden regulatory oversight of the fintech sector.

The London listing review, out this week, has been hailed as a vital chance for the City to straighten its slipping crown as Europe’s top financial centre.

Some banks struggle to communicate clearly with their employees about the boundaries of sexual misconduct. But using diagrams is probably a bad idea.

Pablo de Ramón-Laca is director general of the treasury and financial policy at Spain's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. That places him in charge of the world's ninth largest sovereign debt stock, according to S&P data, for a country pummelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Spain has the second highest number of cases in the EU and the seventh highest in the world. But even that is not the full story of the pandemic's impact.

Europe’s syndicated loan market is demanding more of borrowers seeking sustainability-linked financing. Recent history shows the bond market lags the loan market on sustainability-linked financing innovation, suggesting investors would do well to pay attention to what is happening in the lending market.

The UK’s plan to launch the world’s first sovereign green bonds for retail investors is a welcome addition to the suite of sustainable fixed income products. It might be costly for the Treasury compared to what it can raise in the Gilt market but there are plenty of reasons why it is a good idea.

UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak is preparing to unveil his latest budget on Wednesday. Leaks point to a package of tax hikes and spending cuts. But a repeat of the discredited model that the Conservative Party, of which he is a member, embraced to tackle the 2008-2009 financial crisis would miss a huge opportunity to finance growth just when borrowing costs are as low as they will ever be. Austerity will prove a false economy that drives investment elsewhere.

Concerns that London is losing ground to other financial centres within Europe, such as Amsterdam, which has surpassed London as Europe’s largest centre for equities trading, are overblown. The UK capital remains an attractive listing venue for high-growth firms and could become more so after a Treasury review of London’s listing regime is published this week. But the City should not abandon the core principles on which its reputation has been built just to claw back a short-term loss of business.

Chinese companies mulling new loans are taking inspiration from the recent thinly priced deals from technology giants Tencent Holdings and Baidu to push pricing down on their own transactions. This is a risky proposition.