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Global equity markets were propelled to new all-time highs at the end of last year when various drug companies announced that they were close to releasing vaccines to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with the vaccine roll-out slow, new mutant variants of the virus raging and governments striking a sombre tone, investors need to prepare for the fact that they may have bought in haste.

If UniCredit wanted to make a splash when choosing its new star chief executive, the timing wasn't great. The news of its board of directors nominating Andrea Orcel as designated CEO was crowded out by a bunch of redditors. Still, the appointment of a banking celebrity will be a fascinating situation to watch over the weeks and months to come.

In this round-up, China’s official and the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Indexes fall amid a resurgence of local Covid-19 infections, creditors demand a bankruptcy reorganisation of beleaguered conglomerate HNA Group, and Xiaomi Corp files a lawsuit against the US’s decision to add it to a list of Chinese companies with alleged military ties.

This week in Keeping Tabs: optimum bank capital ratios, and also that other story everyone's been talking about.

Jason Channell, Head of Sustainable Finance, Citi Global Insights examines the broad understanding of environmental, social and governance factors, how these have become a mainstream economic concern, and how sustainability policy is impacting supply chain finance.

RBI follows a “profit-with-purpose” business model with explicit alignment of its activities with social, environmental and economic responsibility. We help develop sustainable economies and support our customers’ transition to zero carbon activities.

In this round-up, Chinese president Xi Jinping warns of international confrontations from a ‘new cold war’, regulators plan deeper capital market reforms and increased oversight of internet finance platforms, and European insurance giant Allianz receives approval for China’s first fully foreign-owned insurance asset management company.

Andrea Orcel, the new CEO of UniCredit, may be annoyed to be upstaged by Avalon Penrose, an actor whose hilarious and heart-tugging Twitter video about the GameStop share maelstrom has captured the insanity of stock markets. But these are the frothy markets we live in now.

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.