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The largest investment banks are not planning on reopening London offices to large numbers of employees any time soon, but they are thinking about how to manage a safe return to work.

Companies that pay little tax have suffered worse share price declines during the coronavirus pandemic than the market as a whole — a result that suggests investors may at last be taking notice of this long ignored aspect of corporate governance.

Fater Belbachir is joining Citi as head of equities, a year after taking on the same position at Barclays. The US bank is changing the leadership structure of its equities and securities services business (ESS).

Santander has surged to the front rank of the EMEA syndicated loan market since the coronavirus crisis began — the bank made a deliberate strategic push.

With leveraged companies largely shut out of central bank bond buying and price support schemes, sponsors are mulling government-backed lending schemes in several European countries, as they seek to show other creditors that they have abundant access to liquidity. But the schemes often come with strings attached, which could do nearly as much damage to a sponsor's investment thesis as a restructuring.

Hong Kong’s citizens are slowly returning to the office as the special administrative region loosens its Covid-19 linked restrictions. But as the world continues to battle the pandemic, bond syndicate teams are continuing to take a flexible approach to work, with some predicting a longer-term future of remote roadshows and hot-desking at banks.

The Bank of England said on Thursday that it would be changing the way it looks at Pillar 2 capital targets, giving UK lenders more room to breathe during the coronavirus pandemic.

Capital markets have not seized up when mediated through the home office. But with remote working set to be the norm for the foreseeable future, the finance industry must be alert to less perceptible problems.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) fired a warning shot at the European Central Bank this week. The court’s threat to stop the Bundesbank from taking part in official asset purchasing could have serious consequences for ECB monetary policy and, by extension, bond markets, just when the markets seem to be relying on the central bank more than ever, write Jasper Cox and Lewis McLellan.

Natixis’s corporate and investment bank slumped to a loss in the first quarter, results showed on Wednesday, as it provisioned for credit losses and took a similar hit in equities to its French peers.

European lenders are debating whether it is worth them taking advantage of new IFRS 9 transitional rules, with some market participants suggesting they will largely ignore any capital benefit gained through these sorts of relief measures.

When revealing its first quarter results on Wednesday, UniCredit said it would be updating its freshly launched Team 23 plan in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, which has dented profitability.