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A hefty increase in revenues from rates and credit trading helped Deutsche Bank’s investment bank in the fourth quarter, but the division still made a loss.

New dynamics are appearing in the sustainability-linked loan market, as the product balloons and banks prepare for more intense scrutiny of their green lending activities. The trends highlight how unformed and confusing this young market still is, writes Jon Hay.

The European Central Bank has promised to undertake “shorter term” initiatives to move the eurozone closer to a Banking Union, conceding that member states were finding it challenging to implement the full long-term overhaul.

JP Morgan has hired William Vereker, former global co-head of investment banking at UBS and business envoy to former UK prime minister Theresa May, to be vice-chairman for investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Moody’s Investors Services has beefed up its coverage of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, naming a veteran analyst as its first global head of ESG.

Société Générale has appointed a new head of debt capital markets for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to replace Cécile Camilli.

Shane Edwards, former global head of solutions and structuring and global head of equity derivatives at UBS, has joined Diginex, a digital asset firm.

Kristina Church has moved from Barclays to Lombard Odier Investment Managers as a senior investment strategist for sustainable investment, as the firm seeks to grow its offering in this area.

Olaf Diaz-Pintado has been named head of Goldman Sachs’s cross markets group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while the bank has appointed new regional heads for its financial and strategic investors group.

The European Central Bank (ECB) confirmed this week that it asked two financial institutions to take “remedial actions” to meet guidance levels of Pillar 2 capital.

Seen with cynical eyes, the launch of JP Morgan’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) is simply an attempt to expand its emerging markets footprint — already the largest in the business — by capitalising on two trends: the wave of cash fleeing low yields for EM, and the unassailable momentum of the socially responsible investment movement.

JP Morgan has created a Development Finance Institution (DFI), which will see its investment bank originate and distribute assets scored on their developmental impact. But specialists have questioned the bank’s ambitions and raised concerns about how this unit will operate.