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“Competition is the DNA that flows through the veins of every loans banker,” said Roland Boehm in a rousing speech at GlobalCapital’s Syndicated Loans and Leveraged Finance Dinner last week.

On February 11, GlobalCapital held its annual Syndicated Loans and Leveraged Finance industry dinner and announced the winners of the Loan Awards 2014.

No sooner has the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect got up and running than attention is already turning to the Next Big Thing — the expansion of the scheme into new markets and new asset classes. The fervour is understandable, but premature. Market participants should get to grips with what they have first before lobbying for shiny new toys.

If the atmosphere at GlobalCapital’s annual Syndicated Loan and Leveraged Finance Dinner can be taken as any kind of barometer, then the loan market going into 2015 is in rude health.

The plight of Raiffeisen Bank International has been horrifying and fascinating for the central and eastern European loan market over recent months and its disclosure of a big earnings hit will have been watched closely by other Western banks with heavy exposure to Russia and Ukraine. But RBI’s problems are its own and do not — yet — suggest a crisis in the Russia business for other lenders.

ECM bankers in India are hoping that the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year will include new tax rules for real estate investment trusts (Reits) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), as a lack of clarity has been a big deterrent to issuance, writes Rashmi Kumar.

Taiwanese banks are stepping up activity in off and onshore deals for Chinese borrowers as they increasingly look overseas to grow their business. Lenders including CTBC Bank and Fubon Bank are focusing on moving up the relationship ladder to assume more senior roles in syndicated loans for China names but they face plenty of headwinds including increasing competition, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

With the renminbi-dollar cross currency swap (CCS) shooting up to record levels over the past week, international high grade issuers could be tempted back in to the offshore renminbi (CNH) market.

To all my fellow men out there, I wish you all the best of luck this week because the most nerve-wracking event of the entire year is just around the corner. And if you thought I was worried about handing out red packets, think again, because what I’m referring to is Valentine’s Day.

The securitization market could offer a financing solution for the energy market in Japan, where the government is pushing rooftop solar panel facilities as an alternative to nuclear power following the closure of nearly all the country’s nuclear plants in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake and the ensuing Fukishima accident.

The plight of Raiffeisen Bank International has been horrifying and fascinating for the Central and Eastern European loan market over recent months and its disclosure of a big earnings hit will have been watched closely by other western banks with heavy exposure to Russia and Ukraine. But RBI’s problems are its own and do not – yet – suggest a crisis in the Russia business for other lenders.

There has been enough jockeying for position between Greece’s newly elected government and its international creditors. It’s time to sit down with an agreement that works — and that means concessions on both sides.