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Without German support, it looks like the idea of a European guarantor syndicate idea has failed to get off the ground. Germany needs to shoulder its responsibility as the eurozone’s strongest economy. Otherwise the ailing eurozone will be beyond help.

European investors are crying out for more short term debt options as traditional issuers’ ratings are slashed and they cease being viable investment options. The region's corporates should follow the lead of their US counterparts and fill the void.

As Asiamoney talks to the region’s top financiers to determine the deals and houses of the year, differing approaches to this year’s volatile markets are revealed.

Just over a week remains to submit your votes for EuroWeek’s syndicated loans and leveraged finance awards 2011. The poll will close at 6pm on December 1 — votes received after that time will not be counted.

The European Parliament voted to all-but-ban short selling and naked credit default swap trading on sovereign debt—albeit with some seemingly large loopholes and details left fuzzy.

In a world echoing with cries for tighter banking regulation, Canada risks strangling one of the most promising covered bond markets through overly stringent supervision.

The EFSF will not win any awards for Monday’s 10 year trade but at least it got the thing away. A borrower with such a high profile needs to be more flexible in its approach to issuance. At the very least it could have avoided the mess of the last few weeks.

Regulators, investors and banks have painted themselves into an undercapitalised corner. But this isn’t a way out of the present deleveraging and bad asset bind. Countercyclical requirements are a tough political sell but not a bad solution.

Mounting talk of Italy being bailed out helps no one. The EU has not got its act together to end the crisis decisively, so Italy must help itself. With a new government, the country’s underlying strength would be able to shine through.

Paragon’s return to the securitisation market was about the most exciting £160m ever placed in European ABS. But its decision not to sell the capital structure is disappointing. Why is selling mezzanine and subordinated notes still so spectacularly expensive?

Carefully worded public statements that skate around the heart of controversial issues have been the norm for some U.S. industry associations and lobbying groups.

Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda justified Japan’s decision to intervene in currency markets to his counterparts on Thursday, a senior Japanese official has revealed