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Some of Europe’s largest banks have taken large chunks of syndicated loan market share in EMEA this year, as the pandemic has prompted some institutions to flex their muscles and others to retreat.

It was a busy first quarter at Commerzbank’s corporate clients division, as companies rushed to secure liquidity and access Germany’s support programmes. But that division and the group as a whole made a loss in the quarter, results released on Wednesday showed, as cost of risk rose and valuations of derivative positions fell.

The coronavirus pandemic will test the complex relationship between bank loans and the fabled ancillary business supposed to make it all worthwhile. Some banks have provided heaps of extra cash for European clients to keep them alive and it has changed the shape of the loan market, with some banks ramping up market share. But will companies return the love when the time comes?

UniCredit began the year with a new template for growth but is now simply trying to help support clients through the crisis, while hoping that the deeper relationships being forged will endure, writes David Rothnie.

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.