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A bigger bank is not necessarily the same as a stronger bank, which is why the Bank of Italy’s draft proposal redefining which borrowers can issue covered bonds should be applauded.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, rated B- / CAA1, will consider it a great result if it can re-establish a five- and 10-year international bond curve this week – following a seven year hiatus – by pricing close to higher-rated Zambia. But for a country with Islamic in its name, with a growing Islamic banking industry and with Islamic finance globally gathering momentum, it would be an oversight if it does not also re-establish a sukuk curve, and soon.

The European resolution mechanism should be agreed next week. But the nature of resolution means that any agreement less than 100% sound is not fit for purpose. Fault-lines in resolution planning are like holes in a bucket — if they exist at all, the bucket won’t work.

India's cash-strapped state-owned banks breathed a sigh of relief last month when the country's central bank pushed back its rollout of Basel III by a year. But the move fails to reward the better functioning private sector banks and takes India a step further away from a more efficient financial system.

That bond markets have been sustained by cheap official stimulus during the years of crisis and recovery has cast something of a shadow over every SSA borrowers’ claims of success and a market returning to normality. But, as Craig McGlashan discovers, the post-stimulus world may well present a raft of new, exciting opportunities.

I’m not one for introspection, but this week has been different. When the heavens opened up on me on my way to the club, I couldn't help feeling my actions were finally starting to catch up with me.

Another week, another Hong Kong IPO with a silly number of bookrunners on the tombstone. WH Group, the Chinese pork producer formerly known as Shuanghui International, and which made headlines last year with the acquisition of Smithfield Foods in the US, has lined up no fewer than 28 houses to market and underwrite its up to $6bn flotation – and that’s not even an April Fools’ Day joke.

The UK government now owns a 24.9% stake in Lloyds and a 30% stake in Royal Mail. But although the National Audit Office has recommended that lessons are learnt from the Lloyds share sell-downs, the performance of the two stocks over the past few months means that wildly different approaches are needed.

The European Commission’s report on a eurozone debt redemption fund and eurobills throws up as many difficulties as it does potential benefits. But as politicians have relied on the inventiveness of the European Central Bank, rather than their own efforts, to calm the storm of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, it is about time they took the steps needed to permanently cure the currency bloc’s ills.

With a record breaking 28 banks working on its $6bn IPO, WH Group is being seen as just another Chinese issuer equating size with success. While the number of lenders on the transaction has been met with cynicism, the pork processor is actually being very strategic in its approach.

Looking back at the macroeconomic performance in 2013, the German economy picked up speed and thus recovered from the brief dip seen in the latter part of 2012 and early part of 2013. Overall, it is therefore back within the normal range of capacity utilisation.

German economists say it is wrong to brand the country as Europe’s economic superpower no matter what international perceptions may be. As enviable as the country’s economy may seem, it will face serious challenges in the next few years, writes Philip Moore.