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As it typical this time of year, just as you start to enjoy Hong Kong’s summer, in comes the black rain, bringing with it misery, frustration and the complete inability to pick up a taxi anywhere. Several summers ago it was like this. And then the black rain really was a perfect match for my mood.

The CEEMEA bond market has ground to a halt, with bankers now set to take it easy until September. But what a pipeline is building — one big emerging markets bank said they are expecting to bring between five and 10 deals in September if the market is calm, while another described his pipeline as “two handfuls'” worth.

Banks are under pressure to lend to Russian borrowers. But though bankers have grown accustomed to moving mountains for the Russian issuers, they should not fear the repercussions if this time they cannot.

On the surface, 2014 looked to have the makings of a vintage year for Asia’s equity-linked market. But judged against bankers’ predictions, it seems to be heading for another disappointment. For a year that promised so much, activity has been lumpy and there’s been plenty to derail the market along the way.

Municipality Finance enjoyed a strong response from investors on Tuesday for its first Swiss franc print of 2014, with orders pouring in for 10 year bonds despite the issuer offering the most negative spread seen in the currency from an international issuer so far this year.

The US Federal Reserve told 11 banks last week that they had failed utterly to draft so called living wills — plans for how they would raise capital in a crisis and how they could be resolved in a hurry if they go under. It was right, they had failed. But the whole concept of living wills is shonky.

The highs and lows of being a leveraged loans banker: You have just given a stellar end of year review presentation to the team when you realise your enthusiasm for the exercise has meant you are going to miss your compulsory Continuing Professional Development seminar.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has decided that if you don’t understand what you are buying, you had better have a lot of money. This week the City watchdog banned the sale of contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) to retail investors for one year, arguing that issuing banks have an “unusually broad discretion” to halt the payment of coupons on the bonds.

It always bugs me that people seem to have this misconception of bankers when it comes to summer. We always get accused of living it up in Seminyak, but that’s just a lazy generalisation.

The massed public debt officials of the European Union have endorsed a plea from the Belgian Debt Office to keep their primary dealers safe from MiFID II, a mammoth regulatory overhaul of wholesale and retail financial markets.

Caught up in the sell-off in the emerging markets, issuers from the CEEMEA region have been reluctant to come forward for new bonds this week.

Given that covered bonds have been carved out of bank resolution, should they still be considered a part of bank credit? Investors should think about redrawing their credit lines to distinguish between state-supported and bail-in debt.