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Alain Gallois will become Natixis’s global head of investment banking, replacing Mohamed Kallala. The latter is heading over to run global markets, with that role’s incumbent, Luc François, leaving the bank.

JP Morgan has promoted a whole new layer of leadership in its investment bank, reaching down to debt capital markets, equity capital markets and M&A. At the top of the tree, Carlos Hernandez has moved from being head of global investment banking to executive chair and has appointed new co-heads of global investment banking.

HSBC will not be making cuts to its equity capital markets or its equity trading capabilities after announcing the results of a strategic review on Tuesday. The bank will be reducing headcount in sales and research, but said that its execution ability in ECM will not be affected in any way.

Intesa Sanpaolo caught the market by surprise when it launched a takeover bid for UBI Banca on Monday night. The announcement sent credit and equity valuations surging higher, with investors pinning their hopes on consolidation in the Italian banking sector.

HSBC’s new strategic plan involves numerous changes to its investment banking division, including shifting resources to Asia and the Middle East, reducing the scale of many operations in the European markets business, and combining product functions with commercial banking.

Royal Bank of Scotland — or NatWest Group, as it plans to rebrand itself later this year — is set to cut back risk-weighted assets in the investment bank, particularly in rates. The bank also committed to stricter lending and underwriting criteria for fossil fuel companies.

One of the most prominent debt bankers at HSBC has left the firm, as the reorganisation of senior management under interim CEO Noel Quinn continues.

Barclays posted another strong set of returns from the corporate and investment bank (CIB) on Thursday, but the disclosure that UK regulators are investigating chief executive Jes Staley’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was described as a “red flag”.

EU member states plan to agree on a common candidate to succeed the UK’s Suma Chakrabarti as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development after his term ends in May. France, Italy and Poland have each put a name forward.

Negotiations may involve a degree of posturing, but as demonstrated with the plan to demand “permanent equivalence” with the EU over financial regulation, it is not clear what future the UK government wants for one of its most important industries.

Nabil Lahham has joined HSBC to head up advisory and corporate finance coverage for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He was most recently at Perella Weinberg Partners.

Investec has furthered its push in corporate finance with five new hires. It continues to win new UK broking mandates.