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In this round-up, China’s Politburo meets to discuss the policy priorities for 2018, Shenzhen Stock Exchange in talks over ETF Connect, and HSBC expands its A-shares coverage from its onshore securities joint venture.

Investors may be quick to pass off Steinhoff’s collapse as an idiosyncratic corporate event, but the fall of one of South Africa’s biggest companies is a severe blow to a country struggling to cling on to its image.

The highest scoring dollar benchmark on BondMarker in November was a five year effort from Canada: its first international print since 2015.

The end of the year awards season can be tense for everyone. It's hard to enjoy the lengthy meetings, endless pitches and repeat questions about the same deals over and over. So if a banker can take the meetings a little less seriously, it makes for a very refreshing change.

Qatar's banks face a wall of maturities in 2018 and need the door to capital markets funding to be flung open for them. But it does not have to be the Qatar sovereign that does the opening.

The Single Resolution Board (SRB) should not have needed an appeal panel to determine that the Banco Popular resolution could have been more transparent. It was blatantly obvious from the outset.

Hong Kong’s equity market is finally shaking off its fusty image as a home for unloved Chinese IPOs, with overstuffed bank syndicates and cornerstone tranches, and friends and family deals increasingly becoming a thing of the past. There will be naysayers, but all the signs show that the change is here to stay.

A novel green loan for Singapore-listed Wilmar has put a focus on sustainability-based borrowings in Asia — or the lack thereof. But now the agribusiness company has provided a template for such financings, the onus is on banks and borrowers to push for change in the region. The benefits may be intangible, but they will be more far-reaching than a few extra basis points on the P&L.

Amid UBS’s Sergio Ermotti’s spat with regulators, Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse turns his attention to this season’s banker bonuses.

China wants to see more French banks underwriting bonds in its interbank bond market, the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China says financial risk prevention is a key consideration for the country’s FX policy, and FTSE Russell reviews its China-related equity indices.

The votes have been counted and the results are in. The BondMarker voters have delivered their verdict on the Export Development Canada (EDC) benchmark

The Philippines postpones its Panda bond deal as it awaits approval from China’s central bank, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) opens its first office in Singapore, and the renminbi falls to seventh place in the league table of the world’s most used payments currency in October.