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In this round-up, US and China agreed to hold trade talks in Beijing early next week, the central bank loosened the definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (Nafmii) appointed a new party chief.

Borrowers flocked to the sterling bond markets this week, at possibly greater pace than the usual January rush. Some of that seemed to be an attempt to get ahead of a crucial Brexit vote in the UK parliament later this month. But if anyone expects clarity on the UK’s future relationship with Europe after that date, they’re delusional.

It is with much sadness that we have to report the death of John Lee-Tin.

The European Central Bank is giving Banca Carige yet more time to boost its capital. If the lender cannot turn itself around, authorities will regret dithering while the private sector walked away.

Hong Kong may have reclaimed its spot in 2018 as the world’s biggest stock exchange in terms of funds raised, but if early indications for the 2019 first quarter are anything to go by, the bourse is in for a tough time.

One of my favourite parts of meeting up with old friends after Christmas is hearing about the gifts they received. This makes for far more entertaining conversations than bonus season talk.

In the first round-up of 2019, China’s economy slowed further in December, renminbi-denominated central bank reserves fell in the third quarter of last year, and the US and China exchanged some positive signals on trade.

Nearly six years ago to the day the European Commission adopted the technical standards for the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) that, among other things, mandated the reporting of derivatives contracts to trade repositories.

Despite the continuation of the ECB’s corporate sector purchase programme in 2018, global political and economic worries caused heightened volatility in the corporate bond market throughout the year. All issuers who executed their deals in 2018 will be happy with their work. However, a handful of transaction stood out for specific congratulations as the winners of our awards this year.

In November, GlobalCapital polled loan market participants for its 16th Syndicated Loan and Leveraged Finance Awards. The nominations are listed below in alphabetical order. We will reveal the winners at the Awards Dinner, to be held on February 6, 2019 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London. For details on attending the event, please contact Daniel Elton at delton@euromoneyplc.com, +44 20 7779 7305.

In this round up, Bank of China’s monthly index shows decreasing onshore funding cost, Value Partners’ flagship fund became MRF-eligible and a quarterly London RMB business report shows that the city still leads the way on offshore RMB trading in Europe.

In this round-up, Chinese president Xi Jinping’s speech at the celebration of China’s reform and opening up offered no concrete promises, the People’s Bank of China reopened the seven-day reverse repo after 36 days of suspension, and China dropped its holding of US government bonds for the fifth consecutive month.