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After almost five years, Hong Kong has recognised Russia as an accepted jurisdiction for issuers looking to list in the city. But whether the ties would be a game-changer for Asian equity capital markets is a big question, writes Philippe Espinasse.

Barclays, oh Barclays. GlobalCapital can’t help wonder about the disconnect between how shareholders see banks, and how their employees see them. Round after round of cuts, each one loved by the market, but ever more corrosive to staff morale.

Technip, the French oilfield engineering company, raised €375m on Wednesday with a daring equity-neutral convertible bond — the first such deal since Total’s transaction in November.

While China’s impact on equity markets may have been catastrophic of late, not everything coming out of China is bad news. China’s appetite for gobbling up European firms is high, which should give Europe's debt bankers reason to cheer, despite the market misery.

Talk about dry January. It hasn’t been the fizzy start to the year that European capital markets specialists were hoping for.

The sweetest part of the awards season is not the moment when you get to pick up the trophy but the chance to get well oiled at the party, while someone else picks up the tab.

GlobalCapital Asia held a New Year drinks and awards reception at Isono in Hong Kong on January 20, 2016.

Britain's banking market is a frenzy of new arrivals and challengers to the old order. The Bank of England even set up a New Banks Unit this week to welcome them all. But for most of history, the trend has run in the opposite direction.

Iran’s re-engagement with the global financial system after the lifting of US and EU nuclear-related sanctions at the weekend will have profound consequences, but this is no “eureka” moment for its relationship with international banks.

As Chinese companies go on an M&A shopping trip in Europe in 2016, the European loan market will benefit from the China’s spending spree.

SIF, a Dutch maker of components for the offshore wind, oil and gas markets, announced on Tuesday its intention to float, and began an investor education phase that will focus heavily on wind rather than oil.

The Basel Committee’s new trading book rules don’t force banks to split into subsidiaries or to ringfence capital. But they will still revolutionise how investment banks run their trading businesses.