UK

China’s central bank will hold on to its 'neutral and prudent' monetary policy, the central bank of Pakistan encourages businesses to trade with China in renminbi, and the Chinese currency regains its position as the sixth most used global payments currency.

LCH Group and pan-European exchange Euronext have revealed their completion of a share swap, in which the exchange took a 2.3% stake in LCH Group in return for an 11.1% stake in France-based clearing house LCH SA.

LBBW and Barclays attracted strong demand for the first euro and sterling covered bond benchmarks of 2018 while ABN, Compagnie de Finacement Foncier (CFF) and Bank of Nova Scotia mandated leads for deals that suggested there would be a typically frenetic start to the year.

The European Commission has proposed to make new rules for investment firms, bringing systemically important institutions under tighter supervision.

Dealogic could be one of the last leveraged loan deals to close in 2017. With allocations of its dividend recapitalisation loans due on Friday, the deal is likely to cap what has been an all-time record year of issuance in the European leveraged loan market.

On Tuesday, ratings agency Moody’s announced it was changing its outlook to negative for four UK based water utilities and affirmed its existing negative outlook on two others.

London Stock Exchange Group chairman Donald Brydon won a confidence vote at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Tuesday, after an activist investor called for his sacking in November.

Olivier Grimonpont, veteran of bond clearing platform Euroclear, will step up to the role of CEO of GlobalCollateral, a collateral management venture between Euroclear and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

Offshore renminbi liquidity could get a shot in the arm as Shanghai Clearing House (SHCH) joins hands with R5, a London-based FX platform, to create a link between the FX markets in the UK and China. The move is also set to widen Chinese banks’ access to global currencies.

HSBC has appointed an experienced investment banker as a vice-chairman in global banking, to help drive its UK business.

Savannah Petroleum, the UK oil and gas company focusing on African exploration, has secured a partnership with ASMA Capital Partners, a Bahraini fund manager which invests on behalf of the Islamic Development Bank, as part of its equity capital raising, which is set to be priced today.

The sterling high yield market is set to start 2018 in shape, with investors and bankers expecting strong supply and demand. Pure Gym, the UK low cost gym operator, could be one of its first issuers.