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Italy is launching a new retail product, the BTP Futura, turning to its impressive stock of domestic savings to help finance its recovery. It’s an excellent move, and could be even more valuable to Italy’s recovery from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic than the external support of the European Stability Mechanism.

Sustainability bond bankers are batting around the idea of subverting usual practice by letting issuers price themed deals and then follow up with their green or social bond framework document after issuance. The idea is to hasten market access for issuers battling the effects of the coronavirus. But it could weaken sustainability standards.

Chinese issuers have been slashing the coupons on their onshore puttable bonds in an attempt to save money. They are playing with fire.

Marcus John, founder and chief executive of Sports Capital Advisors, tells GlobalCapital to expect a wave of insolvencies in national sport leagues but, he believes, sports with global appeal should fare better after lockdowns ease. Whether TV rights, a key source of revenue for major leagues, will be impacted remains unclear.

In this round-up, China releases a white paper detailing the country’s efforts in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, trade surplus surges in May as imports plunge, and the Mainland’s foreign currency reserves are better than expected.

In this round-up, China says it will make the Hainan province a world-class “free trade port”, the May Caixin China general services purchasing managers index beat consensus by a large margin, and the central government will sell over Rmb100bn ($14bn) of treasury bonds next week.

Financial market participants have watched in disbelief this week as asset prices have kept rising, while US cities burn, unemployment breaks records, a global depression becomes more likely and the coronavirus pandemic still rages.

With less than 10 months to go before the expected implementation of the Settlement Discipline Regime in February 2021, the sell-side’s preparations are well underway. Given the potential impact of SDR on banks and broker-dealers, there is extensive ground to cover ahead of the go live date.

OTP Bank Treasury recently announced that it would restructure its business and change its name, continuing its international money and capital market operations as OTP Global Markets. GlobalCapital talked to managing director Attila Bánfi about the opportunities and challenges that the banking group’s international presence brings.

Barclays was positively surprised at how quickly capital markets reopened and it wasted little time issuing senior and tier two deals while its treasury team were still working from home. The UK lender is likely to use the Bank of England's Term Funding for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (TFSME) facility, which will lower its secured funding needs. The bank was well capitalised going into the crisis and has buttressed itself against the expected tide of credit impairments with a prudent level of provisioning.

Hong Kong’s bar scene caters to a broad range of clientele. Boorish expats drink in Lan Kwai Fong, huddling on street corners over cigarettes and pints of lager. Posh chancers turn to The Captain’s Bar, the Chinnery or Sevva. Creative types end up in temples of self-congratulation like Piqniq, Woobar or Feather Boa. But only the finest Bacchanalians find their way into one of Hong Kong’s hidden bars.

Chris Giancarlo was the 13th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US’s top derivatives regulator, until last year. Before his five years at the helm of the CFTC he enjoyed a successful career on Wall Street, which included a 13-year stint as executive vice-president of GFI Group. Since leaving the commission he has focused on digital asset technology, in particular the development of a digital dollar. GlobalCapital caught up with Giancarlo to discuss regulation during the coronavirus crisis and the future of cryptocurrencies.