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The Gulf region has fared well this year, despite the double impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the drop in oil prices, according to Dr Jarmo Kotilaine, chief planning and monitoring officer at Bahrain’s Tamkeen and author of Trials of Resilience: How Covid-19 is driving economic change in the Arab Gulf. Kotilaine believes an expansion of capital markets activity in the region will be a key driver of economic growth in 2021.

The SSA market faced unprecedented challenges in 2020. Funding requirements were inflated by unexpected needs from the pandemic, and the market was busier than ever thanks, in no small part, to the EU’s entrance as one of the sector’s biggest borrowers. But with the exception of a difficult period in March, SSA issuers made it through the year with scarcely a hiccup in their programmes. It’s an encouraging sign, but new challenges await next year. Some leading lights in the SSA community discuss the year they’ve had and the changes it has brought for them, as well as for capital markets more broadly.

The EU Summit on Thursday swiftly produced agreement on the bloc’s multi-annual financial framework, including the €750bn coronavirus recovery fund. Though the news is good, particularly for the European periphery, the move in spreads has been muted.

This week in Keeping Tabs: the former governor of the Bank of England on value and values, The New Republic on law and value, reminiscing about the last crisis, and a pub snack en vogue.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes in mid-December, with some issuers also setting their targets for 2021.

The European Parliament and Council have agreed rules that will set the stage for securitization to play a role in helping European banks dig their way out of an impending surge in defaulted loans. The Parliament has added sustainability criteria to the final amendments.

Ukraine, which has proven itself a favourite of emerging market investors this year, has slipped into international markets for a small dollar tap before year-end. The trade comes amid strained negotiations between Ukraine and the IMF over the disbursement of emergency funding.

Fugro, the Dutch geo-data specialist, has completed its €197m rights issue, a key proponent in a large refinancing package that resolves longstanding issues around debt maturity.

The strong run of green equity capital markets deals in Europe continued on Thursday night with a €224m sale of stock in Spanish infrastructure and renewable energy company Acciona.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has told UK banks that they are free to resume dividend and bonus payments from next year, though pay-outs will be subject to caps based on profits and risk-weighted assets.

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch grocer, has refinanced a €1bn revolving credit facility and added sustainability-linked metrics to the deal, as the company’s capital structure continues its shift towards ecological and socially conscious financing.

The European Banking Authority has updated the market on how it thinks Basel IV will impact bank capital requirements, setting the scene for another paper next week examining how the rules could interact with the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic.