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The European Financial Stability Facility may have sparked some quibbles over the timing of its latest benchmark, but in pricing a deal at all it has made an important point.

The suggestion that Bankia hit the ECB’s discount window for capital every three months is laughable. But it shows that if Spain is going to bail out its banks, it needs outside help.

The leveraged finance market is in a precarious position, but there is no excuse for a repeat of the disastrous slew of hung deals that closed the market in 2011.

Cheung Kong Group is considering returning to the offshore renminbi equity market — but this time in Singapore. If it is anything like its last reminbi deal, the listing of Hui Xian Reit in Hong Kong, the deal will be overpriced and might be tough to follow. But the opportunism should be applauded.

China is preparing to launch crude oil futures in the next 12 months, according to the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s chairwoman.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is considering stricter rules for contracts for difference and fx products in an attempt to protect investors should issuers get into difficulties.

First Derivatives, the capital markets software provider, has seen its pre-tax profits increase.

Clearing over-the-counter swaps that are traded after the enforcement of regulation could lead to market instability.

—Peter Duenas-Brckovich, co-head of global flow credit trading at Nomura, on the benefits of the credit default swap market as opposed to the cash bond market.

China’s strict controls on CNH liquidity will hamstring London’s offshore renminbi capabilities despite bankers’ best intentions.

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You would have thought that news of USD2 billion in losses incurred by JPMorgan’s chief investment office from trading in indices tied to credit default swaps would have fuelled some schadenfreude among the firm’s competitors, but among senior market observers that has not been the sentiment in recent weeks.