Macroeconomic disruptions and regulatory scrutiny will drive market participants to adopt a practical environmental, social and governance strategy in the year ahead – one that is less about narrative and more about materiality.

Initial public offerings by Chinese firms are Hong Kong’s lifeblood, yet they were rarer than hen’s teeth in 2022. For deal flow to return, China must open up. Buckle up: things could get bumpy.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt and its banks boast august credentials when it comes to climate and sustainability. But frameworks and agreements are one thing, creating substantive change across an entire financial sector is quite another.

As Europe’s economic mood sours, a sharp rise in interest rates is putting commercial real estate through its first big cyclical turn since 2008. The non-bank sector, which has become a vital enabler of funding at higher leverage, now faces a test of its resilience.

After years at zero, rapid Fed hikes last year led to sharp increases in NII and NIM. But it is not all good news.

A persuasive case can be made for nearshoring, but so far in Latin America there has been little direct evidence that it is happening. In Mexico, things are about to change.

With broadly syndicated markets largely shut and CLOs facing formidable challenges, leveraged finance has had a tough year. It has been a story of big hung deals and a market that is even more reliant on credit funds than before. With little clarity over when interest rates will peak, let alone start to fall, how will participants manage their way through the turmoil?

Sovereign wealth and pension funds have poured into private and illiquid asset classes over the last 10 years.

COP27 placed green hydrogen production at the top of the global net-zero agenda. Banks want to fund this technology, but energy supply, cost and regulatory uncertainty are jeopardizing its future as the decarbonization solution for hard-to-abate sectors.

As the crypto edifice teeters, there is still one last chance for decentralized finance. If it can encode regulatory compliance into real-world financial assets issued in tokenized form and then trade, clear and settle in seconds at negligible cost and low risk, it might just survive.

The Middle East’s capital markets were awash with plus-sized IPOs in 2022, with a growing belief in its future.

The Australian Securities Exchange took a leap of faith in commissioning Digital Asset to build a blockchain replacement for its clearing and settlement engine five years ago – perhaps too big a leap. Here, Digital Asset’s CEO explains what went wrong and what was learned.

Three years ago, LTS Ventures was tasked with building a simple microfinance platform for Laos’s army of village banks and savings unions. It took off like a rocket, boosting financial inclusion, cutting fraud. Now the firm is eyeing fresh external funding and expansion across southeast Asia.

While other economic blocs aren’t so convinced of the merits of issuing retail central bank digital currency, the eurozone is ploughing ahead. In doing so, however, it is having to water down the project to such an extent that its usefulness will be limited.

Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein may look like an equities odd couple. Leveraging Societe Generale’s derivatives franchise is key to the new joint venture, as is maintaining AllianceBernstein’s reputation for independence.

The country has one of the world’s best-performing economies with one of the few emerging market currencies to be appreciating against the dollar. It also has large numbers of highly skilled Russians fleeing across the border to avoid conscription. National Bank of Georgia governor Koba Gvenetadze speaks to Euromoney.

New opportunities in oil and gas as supply is reoriented away from Russia highlight the question of how quickly cuts to financed emissions will match banks’ enthusiasm for growth in clean energy.

Climate-smart innovations and regenerative agriculture are attracting tech-savvy equity investors to the farming sector. Access to affordable financing will determine how fast those companies can grow to scale and provide an exit.

With anti-ESG sentiment on the rise amid a global financial tightening, is it time for investors to listen to the anti-woke agenda or double down on social responsibility?

While fintechs have been thriving in Brazil and throughout Latin America, the region’s local stock exchanges have failed to attract IPOs.

Three-quarters of a century ago, the state of Israel didn’t exist. Today, it is a leader in technologies ranging from plant-based meat to cybersecurity. Huge sums of new wealth are being created by ambitious entrepreneurs, much of it recycled into new ideas by risk-taking investors.

Brazil’s agribusiness sector is booming on the back of sky-high commodity prices. The public banks that have long financed the sector now face a wave of new private-sector competitors.

Qatar has spent 12 years and more than $200 billion preparing for the World Cup, which kicks off on November 20. What happens when the games end and the tourists leave?

The Brazilian world of digital banks has it all: billionaire unicorns, sub-brands created by the incumbents and completely new disruptors. But one player has been quietly growing under the radar to become the country’s second-largest digital player.

DBS, JPMorgan and Japan’s SBI combined to launch a groundbreaking decentralized finance trade stewarded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It was a great deal of work, but to what end?

Vocal members of the US political right are not happy, creating new laws that ban state investors from backing companies with an ESG agenda. Several fund managers have been quick to take up their cause.

European banks have raced far ahead of their US peers on sustainability. But the continent is now facing an energy emergency, creating pressure from some corners to reverse investment declines in oil and gas. Can Europe’s banks remain frontrunners in sustainable finance in today’s fragile geopolitical environment?

The biggest IPO in Europe for a decade has not generated the kind of excitement that might have been expected in calmer times. Porsche’s flotation was solid enough, but its structure and unusual nature make it a poor proxy for the broader equity capital markets business, which is on its knees.

Geopolitical and economic turmoil has taken its toll on cash management strategies during 2022. Leading transaction banks emphasize the value of investment in technology as they navigate a choppy market environment.

Credit Suisse has finally lifted the lid on its reorganization. But for all the frenzy of deal making it now plans, questions still remain over whether recasting the investment bank as a nostalgic partnership with a throwback name is the answer to the bank's strategic problems.