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Catching up with friends on the latest gossip is always good fun — but only if you are meeting at a respectable place.

Europe’s already enfeebled rules around bank failures would be dealt a crushing blow if the Italian state were allowed to use public money to prolong the life of Banca Carige.

The cryptocurrency market, fresh from a hellish year in which 83% of its $800bn market cap went up in smoke, is facing a new, and altogether more serious threat: the 51% attack.

The primary euro public sector market kicked off for the year but it's a very different environment from the start of 2017 and 2018. Borrowers will not be supported by net purchases from the European Central Bank, spreads will be pushed up and new issue premiums will go higher — but how much? Borrowers with smaller programmes would do well to wait for more liquid names to gauge the market tone.

Donald Trump’s attacks on rising US interest rates have prompted outrage that the maverick president is trampling on the independence of the US Federal Reserve. However, while Trump’s style is unique, his intent to influence the Fed has plenty of precedents.

An old argument has rattled on for years between some CEEMEA issuers and banks about the wisdom of paying nothing to banks to arrange sovereign bonds. Uzbekistan has settled it.

Public sector borrowers are confident going into the euro bond market next year, with reinvestments from maturing bonds held by the European Central Bank likely to cap any spread widening from the end of quantitative easing. But political threats — from populists polling well ahead of European Parliament elections in May, Brexit probably in March and the Italian government’s stand-off with the European Commission over its budget plans — are likely to bring volatility, meaning timing will perhaps be more important than in 2018. GlobalCapital brought together European SSAs, investors and investment bankers to discuss what 2019 holds for the euro market — as well as the SRI sector and new technology.

The bond market is well ahead of schedule in its adoption of potential Libor replacements, with several issuers having printed notes linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (Sofr) in the dollar market, and to the Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia) in sterling. Borrowers are setting strong standards for other participants to take up, as well as adjusting structures to ensure the eventual market is optimal. That does not mean the job is finished, of course. GlobalCapital spoke to some of the pioneers in the Sonia and Sofr markets about their work so far — and the challenges ahead.

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a complicated product. But the past year has presented a few examples of market participants resorting to ‘creative’ tactics to optimise payouts. If the market fails to respond to concerns around the viability of CDS, the product may have to be rethought.

A handful of outbound M&A deals announced in the second half of 2018 have given leveraged and acquisition finance bankers hopes for a rebound in action this year. But with many roadblocks ahead, being "cautiously optimistic" will be critical.

In this round-up, People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 100bp, Shanghai-London Stock Connect likely postponed to late January, and Li Keqiang encourages big commercial banks to support the private sector.

Has change been driven entirely by regulatory compliance or have market forces also played a role?