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Sustainability is conquering finance — to judge by what the industry likes to talk about. Outside the window, the real economy continues much as before. Is all the noise about green finance actually shifting capital in the right direction — or is it just making people feel better?

US lawmakers have penned their first major reform of the policies drawn up to make banks safer after the financial crisis, and signs suggest that further deregulation could be on the cards during president Donald Trump’s remaining time in office. Tyler Davies asks if this is the beginning of the end for the international push towards tougher banking rules?

Emerging market bond investors are in the awkward position of having to wish for bad economic news. Not in EM, but in the US, where the roaring economy is driving the Federal Reserve into a fast tightening cycle that has savaged the investment case for EM bonds and pushed several weaker states to the brink of catastrophe. As Lewis McLellan reports, the recent plunge in US equities offers a whiff of hope.

Pain from Brexit, higher interest rates, quantitative easing ending and political strains in the EU will all lead to more volatility in 2019, according to 22 heads of debt capital markets in the EMEA market, including 18 of the top 20, in Toby Fildes’ annual outlook survey. And that’s before Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman get going. There is some good news, however: financial institutions are set to be big issuers, and the DCM heads expect to be net hirers...

Regulators agreed to impose a tighter identification regime for southbound trading of Stock Connect, foreign direct investment (FDI) into China dropped for the third month, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) confirmed temporary import tariff cuts for automobiles from the US.

In this round-up, total social financing (TSF) rebounded in November, auto sales plummeted for the fifth consecutive month, and Standard Chartered’s renminbi globalisation index (RGI) fell for the first time in six months.

In this round up, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission put an ETF link on hold, venture capital funds will get more tax cuts, and Hong Kong signed up to the fourth closer economic partnership agreement with the Mainland.

Goldman Sachs International conducted business with Lars Windhorst, the colourful German financier, despite warnings from its compliance department that he was a high risk counterparty.

France looks set to be in breach of European Union budget rules after president Emmanuel Macron promised a set of concessionary measures in an effort to quell the violent protests of the last few weeks. While, by the absolute letter of the law, France’s breach will not be as bad as Italy’s, such a situation will hardly do much to stem the rise of populism or boost the credibility of the EU.

Bondholders were never going to be satisfied with Mexico’s new government after it cancelled the airport project in which they’d invested $6bn. But though the issuer’s tender offer and consent solicitation is unlikely to be the administration’s last squabble with markets, it is still a good sign.

Credit Suisse is giving money back to shareholders in a sign that a three year restructuring, which has featured two rights issues, is now firmly in its rearview mirror. But as the bank has cleaned up its act and refocused on what it does best, the argument that all of its businesses should live under one roof looks increasingly strained.

Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing hired from Citi's Hong Kong team in a bid to boost its post-trade capabilities on Stock Connect and beyond.