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Chinese banks would need to raise up to $410bn of capital by 2018 in order to meet Basel III requirements – a mammoth task, to say the least. Regulatory restrictions mean there are not that many avenues open to them to manage their capital levels, but securitization is one area that authorities are encouraging. It could help a lot.

Now that the Bank for International Settlements has made its feelings clear about the global use of prolonged monetary easing by central banks (‘Save yourselves! Stop now!’), a particular incident at last week’s Euromoney Global Borrowers and Investors Forum 2014 in London seems particularly apt.

The world has changed. From this week we are living in a post-UK sovereign sukuk era, where all things in Islamic finance seem possible and the market is alive with imaginings of follow-on deals and projects to come.

Since Goldman’s Figsco (Fixed Income Global Structured Covered Obligation) trade hit the screen, capital markets commentators, GlobalCapital included, have been scratching heads and stroking beards about what it actually is.

This week’s first-ever Western sovereign sukuk represents a landmark moment in the global expansion of Islamic capital markets that offers significant potential to attract further new names to the product, writes Dan Alderson.

Al Hilal’s additional tier one perpetual sukuk drew big demand on Tuesday and set a template for further deals of its kind. Not everyone was convinced that the aggressive price compensated for what was essentially equity risk, but while the doubters may rue missing out this time, investors should carefully heed the warnings they have raised.

Back when I was an undergrad, the minute summer term came to an end, we’d be off to an exotic destination to sample the local delights.

Al Hilal’s additional tier one perpetual sukuk drew big demand on Tuesday and set a template for further deals of its kind. Not everyone was convinced that the aggressive price compensated for what was essentially equity risk, but while the doubters may rue missing out this time, investors should carefully heed the warnings they have raised.

Goldman Sachs may have been hoping that it could get away with calling its newly structured triple recourse hybrid a covered bond. Though it is being marketed to covered bond investors, FIGSCO is clearly nothing like a classical covered bond. But Commerzbank, NIBC and NordLB all encountered controversy when they successfully issued innovative deals, suggesting the clumsily named acronym may be a success – especially in an environment of furious yield chasing and a shrinking triple A universe.

It is rare for a successful fundraising for a reputed name to shed light on some of the deeper problems in the loan market. But some recent acquisition loans in Asia have done exactly that — and have re-opened the debate between syndication and club loans.

The UK’s Islamic banks have good grounds for fury at missing out on the UK sovereign sukuk mandate. But for their own sakes, they must keep faith that the deal is a dress rehearsal for something bigger, and turn up in size to buy the paper.

It’s that time of year again. Long balmy evenings filled with cricket on the green, mother buttering homemade cucumber sandwiches, father’s cries of “well done my boy” interrupted only by the skylark. Ah, the great British Summer Time. And as I watch the black rain lashing the window in Hong Kong's first typhoon warning of the season, I feel somewhat misty eyed.