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These may be difficult days for bankers, given how up and down deal flow has been since the beginning of the year. However, privately many seem happy enough to be indulging in some unexpected free time.

The influx of Chinese M&A into Europe has brought the terrifying task of evaluating the credit risk of clandestine Chinese state-owned enterprises — but the loan structures used so far protect lenders from the unknown.

Regulation is never going to have the beauty and brevity of a haiku or a nice tweet, but simplicity is still a virtue and complexity a red flag. The Basel Committee’s Operational Risk rules are mind-bendingly complicated, duplicate other regulations and may actively harm prudential supervision. They are the wrong tool for the job.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney confirmed to the UK parliament on Tuesday what currency traders and analysts have been saying for weeks: worries about the EU referendum are causing higher prices for sterling options and raising the risk of a sharp fall in the pound.

A speedily implemented capital markets union (CMU) should be pitched to European parliamentarians not just as a win for the European economy, but for European regulatory competence and control.

It is no secret that Indian banks are in dire need of capital to fully comply with Basel III requirements so it makes sense that IDBI Bank has revived plans for an offshore additional tier one (AT1). But with challenges looming, IDBI — and other banks — need to act faster to get their fundraising together.

While Barclays drew a lot of the focus this week, with its second new strategy in less than two years, it was Deutsche’s decision to do some deadly serious cost cutting in debt capital markets that caught the most attention.

Last week the Ranger went to see Société Générale, and the French bank made an ostentatious display of frugality — the Ranger suspects.

Barclays' new chief executive is looking for a lot of leeway from shareholders. Selling off a profitable part of the business to double down on a less profitable line is a bold call. The market can't be this bad forever, but don't expect the dividend back any time soon.

When Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, the responses either side of the Atlantic were markedly different.

European bond yields have fallen to new recent lows as the market takes an increasingly dim view of growth prospects, which has in turn put insurance bonds under increased pressure.

As an ex-banker, I am used to hearing rants about the miserable fees paid by Asia’s state-owned issuers, but even I struggle to comprehend the lengths dealers must now go to if they want to win a deal.