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A good appetite has long been seen as a sign of good health. And with the results of the European Central Bank’s comprehensive assessment showing that the eurozone’s banking system is, broadly speaking, healthy, banks need to start showing some of the signs of life they’ve been lacking since the crisis. Namely: lending.

Just as a violent storm is sometimes what weather systems require to break a passage of mounting atmospheric pressure, a sudden dose of volatility can also be just what financial markets need to refresh themselves and avoid stagnation or overheating. So it goes too with the pastimes of loans bankers.

As the days get shorter and the commute that little bit colder, we like to hold onto the summer spirit as long as possible — ‘keep warm and carry sunglasses’ is Blog’s personal philosophy. But it seems that the Street is taking it to the next level.

Turkish bank Yapi Kredi printed a $500m five year bond last week on a day when its curve widened by 25bp. Going ahead with the deal seemed self-defeating to many, but GlobalCapital believes Yapi Kredi behaved honourably, and investors should reward its honesty in future deals.

It’s that time of the year again – awards season. Every banker is getting a pep talk about how to behave, calendars are jammed with meetings with every publication out there and the even most senior and inaccessible bankers suddenly become available for chit-chats with journalists.

European banks have been in limbo this month, waiting for their regulators' verdict to be handed down in the Comprehensive Assessment (the Asset Quality Review and stress tests). There are gaping holes in the assessment process but, even so, it is something quite new and potentially revolutionary.

The biggest news stories of 2014: Ebola, the rise of Islamic State, Ukraine crisis, tumbling oil prices, terrible growth data in the Eurozone and the US, uprisings in Hong Kong and across the world, growing inequality, turmoil in the Middle East. And also the return of capital markets led by record highs in stock and bond markets. Spot the odd one out.

Turkish bank Yapi Kredi printed a $500m five year bond last week on a day when its curve widened 25bp. Going ahead with the deal seemed self-defeating to many, but GlobalCapital believes Yapi Kredi behaved honourably, and investors should reward its honesty in future deals.

A combination of bad markets and bad weather got a Nordic banker thinking about travel plans last week.

You’ve got to hand it to Bank of China. This week it priced the biggest Basel III bank capital deal ever, in what bankers are calling the worst market conditions since 2008. But while the deal was certainly one step forward for Bank of China, it looked like two steps back for the international capital markets.

A grim secondary performance by Goldman Sachs’s debut sukuk has turned the deal into a ready weapon for anyone holding that the Islamic market is not ready for such non-halal borrowers. But despite the performance, Goldman's sukuk will be remembered as the issue that shook the market purists' defences.

Sometimes it seems like TaiTai is speaking another language. I don’t understand half of what she says: facials, pedicures and skin peeling.