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GlobalCapital is delighted to announce the nominees for this year’s Americas Derivatives Awards.

The GameStop short squeeze has cost institutional investors billions. I’ll feel more sympathy if they’d occasionally pay for their drinks.

At this year’s Central & Eastern European Forum, Société Générale hosted the workshop titled ‘CEE central banks’ balance sheet expansion: a necessity or a risk?’. The speakers were Radoslaw Cholewinski (deputy head of fixed income at Pekao TFI), Martin Dolejs (portfolio manager, pension fund and insurance portfolios at Allianz), and Zoltan Aroksallasi (FX and rate strategist at Erste Bank), and I thank them for their insight, their knowledge, and their time. By Marek Drimal, EMEA Strategist, moderator of the workshop.

Direct lenders and debt funds have always pitched themselves as being more suitable partners for businesses than banks, bondholders, or other institutional lenders. When the going gets tough, they can be quicker to waive covenants and offer new money than a less concentrated creditor group. But this also puts them in pole position to take the keys from a business should things go wrong — which we may see happen this year.

Even the greats can get it wrong. Eleven years ago to the day, Bill Gross, ‘Bond King’ and co-founder of Pimco, proclaimed that Gilts were "resting on a bed of nitroglycerine".

The Singapore Exchange’s plan to get in on the rush to list special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) is a bold move that could give it an edge over regional rivals. But there are plenty of obstacles — and its efforts may well be futile.

An undercapitalised bank in the crosshairs of a market rout can expect counterparties to demand higher margin calls, particularly when a lot of its assets are already encumbered, as is the case at many European banks. This is a problem of the European Central Bank’s making and one that only it can fix. Making covered bond repo haircuts more severe would be a good place to start.

In this round-up, Beijing plans to increase oversight of debt management and corporate governance at Chinese lenders, Hong Kong is ready to include Star-listed A-shares into the Stock Connect, and the securities regulator gives the nod to set up a new futures exchange in Guangzhou.

This week in Keeping Tabs: disagreement over stimulus in the US, a treat for the end of Trump, and how people present their backgrounds.

A new era has begun in the US, with the swearing in of Joe Biden as president. For America and the rest of the world it is a sea change in leadership style and political substance.

There are few unpleasant things that can trump having to watch someone else take your job.

The relationship between the US and China, which has faced immense strain during Donald Trump’s presidency, is unlikely to get too much relief under the Biden administration. The biggest losers will be US banks and their capital markets business in Asia.