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Bertrand de Mazières is one of the best known and most respected figures in European debt capital markets. As director general of finance at the European Investment Bank (EIB), he oversees one of Europe’s most important bond issuers, a status not only due to the amount it issues each year, but also its role as a setter of standards and benchmarks for rest of the market — in good times and bad.

Conditionality has become a central area of contention as the EU shapes its coronavirus recovery plan. The bloc should focus on the environment, not on fiscal responsibility.

When I was a banker, you only signed a non-disclosure agreement if you had serious interest in joining a deal. Not anymore.

Huawei Technologies, sanctioned by the US and now having its participation in the UK's 5G network questioned by the government, looked into raising hundreds of millions of euros in the Schuldschein market two years ago. But concern that buyers would freeze at a groundswell of negative news, whipped up in part from the US, scared the Chinese company off taking the risk. Its increasing isolation in major European countries means it is unlikely to use its capital markets any time soon.

Durreen Shahnaz is founder and chief executive of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), which says it created the world's first social stock exchange. She tells GlobalCapital about how we can rebuild a better economy, with the help of capital markets, after coronavirus.

The Shanghai Clearing House’s decision to give bond issuers insight into the holders of their debt is a smart move. China has enough regulation; what it lacks is information.

Some parts of the market are talking about the benefits of ultra-short, money market debt that has a sustainability theme, while on Tuesday BBVA issued a perpetual green bond, albeit with a call. The viability of both these forms of debt shows that the common perception of green bonds is not quite true.

The World Bank has abandoned its plans for a follow-up to its pandemic bond. That is a pity. Although its attempt wasn’t perfect, the format is a valuable concept and shouldn’t be abandoned because of one flawed deal.

At the end of June GlobalCapital and DZ Bank brought together some of Germany’s leading public sector bond issuers to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their capital markets activities. Four months after the crisis began to be felt in Germany, representatives of the country’s development banks and Länder have come through the initial panic and reaction stage and are now beginning to understand more fully the extent of the damage the disease has caused to the economy and just how much their day-to-day lives have changed.

Equity capital markets are gearing up for a busy autumn and UK companies have been at the forefront of activity in Europe since the coronavirus pandemic began. Bankers and investors have said they fear the disruption a second wave of Covid-19 and volatility surrounding November's US election could bring, but they should not forget either that the UK is edging towards a no-deal Brexit at the end of 2020.

Chinese issuers hoping to put the pandemic behind them should not abandon coronavirus-linked bonds.

In this round-up, regulators release official guidelines for follow-on offerings in the Nasdaq-style Star market, issuers of onshore ‘enterprise bonds’ get an extension on their regulatory approvals, and a financial unit of JD.com starts pre-listing education for its Star debut.