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Does complaining about technology make me a curmudgeon? Then so be it.

Ant Financial’s planned Hong Kong listing is just one of many jumbo deals that could land on the bourse this year. But few issuers will have such a clear path to success. The Alibaba halo should not be underestimated.

The Asian bond market has been red hot since the start of 2020. With nearly every day bringing a number of blowout deals, it would be easy to overlook the three borrowers that have fallen short of completing their proposed transactions. But the failed deals may be a sign of things to come.

In this round-up, China and Myanmar have signed deals on Belt and Road projects, the central bank has kept the benchmark lending rates unchanged, and overseas investors increased their holdings of Chinese bonds and stocks by $128bn in 2019.

In this round-up, Chinese premier Li Keqiang encourages local government bond issuance, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plans to investigate corruption around local government debt, and Shanghai is working to grow the Star board and attract more foreign investment into the city.

In this round-up, China’s economy grows at the slowest rate in nearly three decades, the central bank injects a shot of liquidity into the market through the medium-term lending facility and reverse repo, and DBS Bank (China) receives a bond settlement agent licence in the interbank market.

In the phase one trade deal signed on Wednesday between the US and China, the majority of the agreements focusing on the financial sector are simply reiterations and elaborations of what the Mainland government has already said. But there are now some concrete deadlines in place to open up the domestic market further to foreign firms.

As head of BlackRock, the largest asset manager, Larry Fink’s pivot to responsible investing in recent years has been influential.

The securitization market generates a mix of excitement and confusion, offering investors a novel way to boost their returns, diversify risks and — not very bold conjecture here — sometimes lose lots of money without quite understanding why.

JP Morgan and MUFG have been appointed Everton FC’s financial advisers to arrange roughly £500m ($651m) of financing for the football club’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool. One source close to the prospective deal told GlobalCapital “all options are on the table” regarding funding routes.

The only thing missing from a stellar start to 2020 is a capital transaction from Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

European banks don’t believe they have a free option to extend the lives of their additional tier one (AT1) securities, despite the apparent success of Banco Santander’s call policy.