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In the first RMB round-up of 2016, Hong Kong RMB deposits and cross-border trade settlement recovered in November, RQFII programme added three new entities in December 2015, the Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges both saw strong futures trading volumes in December, ICBC managed nearly Rmb1tr in RMB-won trades, and Zimbabwe will make RMB one of its legal tenders this year. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

China’s onshore FX market has kicked off its new trading hours this week which allow for trading until 11.30pm. By while the regulator’s move is well intentioned, FX traders who are working the new night shift say the market faces some fundamental problems.

South Korea's KEB Hana Bank is set to meet investors next week ahead of its first foray into the dollar bond market since its merger.

Bank of Ceylon has decided to pull a $100m loan launched at the end of October 2015 in favour of raising more short-term funding.

Hsin Chong Construction Group is meeting fixed income investors to gauge interest for what would be its second dollar bond.

As news of the UK and US investigation into SSA market trading practices broke, the SSA market split over whether the banks at the heart of the probe would lose primary business.

In the wake of the news that four traders at different banks were under investigation by US and UK authorities over possible sharing of client flow information, senior bankers were quick to blame the structures of the market, and pressure from issuers focused on turnover statistics, for making it possible.

Latin American syndicate bankers are crossing their fingers for a period of calm in global markets in order to allow the region’s borrowers to kick off their international funding for 2016, with sovereigns dominating the pipeline.

Latin American bond bankers are already down in the dumps about a bare January pipeline, and a tough first week of trading in global markets has done little to lighten their mood. But this should not make Lat Am borrowers hesitate once they are ready for market: conditions are unlikely to get better.

Supranational and agency borrowers have long anticipated a wave of demand from American investors as US government sponsored enterprise issuance dwindles. But this week there were concrete signs that the dollar bond market has shaken off the problems that prevented the big switch. Craig McGlashan reports.

Just as European equity capital sales made a prompt start to the year on Tuesday, the first viable window available, with the €1bn NN Group block trade, the equity-linked market also wasted no time. Safran, the French aerospace and defence company, issued a €650m convertible at what a banker claimed was a record low yield.

Lloyds issued the first sterling covered bond of the year and was quickly followed by two overseas issuers who priced deals at successively wider levels.