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In this round-up, the Chinese capital of Beijing conducts nucleic acid tests for Covid-19 on 2.3m local residents, the central bank leaves the benchmark lending rate unchanged for June, and a subsidiary of AIA is set to become China’s first wholly foreign owned life insurance company.

Robert Bosch has joined a rare club to issue €2bn-plus in a single Schuldschein. The A+ rated German car parts supplier re-opened the market with an initial target of €500m. Bankers say the final result is an illustration of the depth of the market for well-rated corporates.

In this round-up, Chinese banks and financial institutions are asked to hold back profit growth in 2020 to pump funds to the real economy, foreign strategic investors will have better access to listed companies, and regulators give JP Morgan full control of its futures joint venture and MUFG a bond settlement agent licence.

In this round-up, officials claim the second wave of local infections of Covid-19 in Beijing is under control, top Chinese financial regulators gather and deliver speeches at a high-profile event in Shanghai, and US president Donald Trump says that a “complete decoupling” from China is on the table.

It has been a long time coming. Social impact bonds, in which the investor's return is based on the outcome of a social project, were invented 10 years ago. This week, one was issued for the first time by an organisation recognised as a full member of the mainstream European capital markets.

Oil major BP printed its debut hybrids this week, defending its balance sheet from the huge slump in oil prices and the ravages of global lockdown. The company lured €20bn of orders a day after writing off up to $17.5bn of assets, proving that if you’re a company with something unusual to bring to capital markets, now is the time to do it.

‘Angrynomics’, a well-timed book on anger and how it relates to politics, economics and finance by Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth, is published this week. GlobalCapital spoke to Lonergan to discuss its meaning.

Spare a thought for your colleagues in London or New York. Most of them are still working from home, juggling over-crowded, pointless conference calls with parental oversight and even the odd bit of real work. Those of us in Hong Kong are back to normal.

One of the sectors so far unscathed through the pandemic, in the eyes of institutional investors, has been UK social housing. Deals from housing associations have been priced during the crisis, as several institutions have said their resolve to invest in the sector remains undimmed.

The strong response from banks to Charoen Pokphand Group’s acquisition-related loan is not a true reflection of conditions in Asia’s syndications market — despite what some may say.

As part of the Global Borrowers & Bond Investors Forum Virtual 2020, GlobalCapital hosted a panel in May to discuss how supranationals’ businesses are changing during this crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant vastly increased demands on their lending. The supranationals have had to drastically alter their plans and strategies to help their clients in fighting the virus, and in mitigating the economic consequences of global lockdown. That has meant that many of the panellists’ institutions will be turning to the capital markets for larger sums than they had anticipated. Of course, as is the case for so many, they are having to do so without the traditional comforts and conveniences of an office infrastructure — although this has caused less disruption and inefficiency than might have been expected.

The coronavirus crisis has brought the role of the public sector agency into sharper focus than ever. With companies suffering devastating losses of revenues, sovereigns are doing their best to shoulder the burden and ensure companies have what they need to protect jobs. To do this, many sovereigns are leaning on their agencies as the best way to transmit economic support packages. GlobalCapital held a roundtable in mid-May to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the agency sector and how it is managing the crisis.