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The European Central Bank (ECB) landed in the corporate bond market this week after months of anticipation. It ambled in on Wednesday with small tickets before buying at size on Thursday. But so far it has kept market watchers struggling to spot a pattern to its purchases, write Graham Bippart, Ross Lancaster and Owen Sanderson.

Tumbling volatility over the past months has caused US and European corporate credit risk prices to converge, despite credit investors bracing themselves for diverging monetary policies.

The French government is open to using its “soft power” to help the green bond market, as it did when it assisted in establishing the Euro Private Placement (PP) market. But tax or regulatory capital incentives are unlikely at the moment, reports Jon Hay.

Back in the day, us bankers would go to any lengths to win new business. Marathon drinking sessions with issuers – check. A promise of internships to their nieces, nephews or neighbours – check that off too. But while such enticements have now been severely curtailed, a friend surprised me with his latest adventure.

Distributed ledger technology, of which blockchain is one kind, has the potential to revolutionise all areas of financial markets very quickly. But the characteristics that make it a boon to market participants ensure regulators will have a hard job staying on top of it.

Bankers are growing increasingly worried about investor fatigue in the face of the huge supply of bonds from the Middle East, and some are suggesting that a switch to euros could be a remedy. Tapping the single currency could help, but it won't be a quick solution for everyone.

On the face of it, last week was a glorious time for Asia’s equity capital markets. Volumes got a huge leg up thanks to a $5.5bn bond exchangeable into Alibaba Group Holdings shares while stockholders jumped at the opportunity to sell overnight blocks. But look under the hood and this spurt of activity changes little.

The successful distribution of a jumbo loan for ChemChina’s acquisition of Syngenta shows that Chinese banks have learned quickly from past mistakes. And as the trend of Chinese companies snapping up prized assets overseas intensifies, they will only get better at arranging large, complex deals.

Competition is becoming much fiercer in the Turkish banking sector. After years of rampant loan growth in many markets, banks will have to fight much harder to find new customers and bigger margins in the future.

Last week the Ranger was subject to a sally of ridicule, both gentle and harsh, from the loan market.

GlobalCapital is delighted to announce the winners of its Americas Derivatives Awards for 2016. The results were revealed at a gala dinner at New York’s Metropolitan Club on June 2. Thank you to everyone who supported the event by attending and for taking part in the pitches that decided who were the best and brightest in US, Canadian and Latin American derivatives over the last 12 months.

HSBC has started a sweeping reorganization of its banking business, following the arrival of new co-head Matthew Westerman in early May. The heads of corporate finance and M&A are on the way out, and it's all change in coverage.