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Lou Jiwei, the Chinese minister of finance, lambasted the credit rating agencies, following last month’s decisions by Moody’s and S&P to downgrade the country’s sovereign debt outlook.

The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, is not being allowed to stay out of the debate over the UK’s membership of the European Union, which is set to ramp up again this week.

Global fund managers who can set up their China business around opportunities in both onshore and cross-border flows will be best placed to take advantage of China’s ongoing opening of its capital account, according to Z-Ben Advisors.

In this round-up, trade settlement picked up in March, Asian exchanges saw declining USDCNY futures volumes, Nigeria will include the RMB in its FX reserves, a survey found the RMB is likely to replace the Hong Kong dollar as most popular currency in HK, and a new cross-border scheme was established between Singapore and China. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

Despite a growing pipeline, Panda bond issuance has been stymied by foreign exchange volatility and regulatory issues around auditing and remittance of proceeds. Market participants are working closely with China on the problems and expect regulators to address the accounting requirements in the coming months.

BBVA’s third additional tier one transaction, priced last week, is likely to demonstrate the increasing importance of “future supply overhang” for the product’s performance, according to TwentyFour Asset Management.

Italy’s strongest banks are to contribute to a fund that will back-stop the capital raises of weaker lenders, in a deal brokered by the government that has drawn scepticism from many investors, but optimism from others. Tom Porter reports.

Republic of Poland laid its euro ghosts to rest on Wednesday with a €750m tap of its January 2036 bonds on what bankers called the best day for emerging market bonds so far this year.

The primary covered bond market was active this week with as many as seven issuers raising more than €6bn, including the longest deal in over a year and a debut borrower in euros.

Hungary landed a double milestone on Thursday as its first international bond in four years became the first dim sum bond since November 2015. And while the pricing of the deal has drawn criticism, it proved that RMB is a viable option for CEE sovereigns looking to diversify into Asian currencies.

China is set to launch a new gold price benchmark via the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), according to market participants. The initiative will see the involvement of both local and foreign financial institutions, marking a new achievement in China’s quest to make the RMB a reference currency in the commodity markets.

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is meeting investors for what would be its first syndicated dollar benchmark trade.