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Sterling has dropped to levels not seen since the 1980s, making UK assets seem cheap to international buyers. But that is unlikely to be the driver of the recent crop of UK M&A.

A slump in syndicated loan activity in Asia has put pressure on banks to offer juicy terms to borrowers seeking leveraged deals, including lower pricing and weaker structures. But the dearth of issuance won’t last long, leaving just a short window for borrowers to take advantage of.

In this round-up, new tariffs on both Chinese and US goods took effect on Sunday, China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index declined, and protesters in Hong Kong paralysed the city’s airport yet again.

In this round-up, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicated that it might hold off tariff retaliation, the country announced the establishment of six new free trade zones (FTZs) and the People’s Bank of China has asked banks to price loans based on the new loan prime rate (LPR) mechanism immediately.

In this round-up, China’s industrial profit climbed in July, the Canadian dollar overtook the renminbi as the fifth most used currency for international payments, and HSBC conducted the first transaction in the interbank market for foreign investors with a T+3 settlement cycle.

Europe’s patchwork of insolvency laws gives canny corporates and creditors the chance to pick the jurisdiction they want to use. That leads to absurd outcomes — and the sooner it ends, the better.

Being in Asia for as long as I have, one gets used to the quirky nature of some of the region’s smallest markets. My personal favourite is Myanmar, a country long closed off to the outside world and now slowly coming into its own.

Foreign banks can now get a licence to act as lead underwriters for all deals in China’s domestic interbank bond market, signalling a further opening up of the Mainland’s financial market. But these licences will only make a marginal difference to a bank’s business.

To make a real difference, green finance needs to prove it is tough on dirty companies. How can the sector look at the fires ravaging the Amazon region and still take comfort in having embraced a bond issued to finance cattle purchases there?

In this round-up, the tit-for-tat trade tariff situation between the US and China escalated over the weekend, and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) issued detailed rules for benchmarking mortgage borrowers to the recently unveiled loan benchmark rates.

In this round-up, Ren Zhengfei warns employees of Huawei’s fragile situation, Hong Kong tension rages and Goldman Sachs is working to become the third foreign bank to have a majority-owned JV onshore

In this round-up, the US gave Huawei another three months to buy supplies from US companies, the Chinese government revealed plans to turn Shenzhen into ‘a demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics’ and Japan replaced China as the largest holder of US treasuries