UK levy shows increasing burden of regulatory scrutiny; concerns rise over banks’ access to dollar funding.

Share buybacks artificially inflate executive pay and disguise its ultimate cost to businesses.

Mellat leads legal action against UK; lifting sanctions only half the issue.

Questions over funding needs; investors spot ‘whiff of desperation’.

Falling real creates value; upturn predicted for 2016.

Tencent and Alibaba are at the vanguard of setting up new online banks. It's a great way to shake up the old state players and, by mining their data, get credit ratings for China's underserved population. But do upstart tech companies really have the political and business resources to challenge the incumbents?

The pool of approved stock lenders for the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect short selling scheme must be widened for the initiative to succeed, according to market experts.

Growth rates revised downwards; investors still ‘cautiously’ optimistic.

Bulgaria sells €3.1 billion record breaker; Slovenia prices 20-year deal inside Spain.

The investment potential in Africa has long been discussed but finally the hype is turning into reality. Regional private equity firms are beginning to convert their local knowledge of Africa’s subcontinent into cash. But there are still many obstacles to establishing a thriving business in sub-Saharan Africa.

After years of restructuring, Crédit Agricole’s corporate and investment bank is tentatively showing the signs of stability and growth that the group’s crisis-weary shareholders have long sought. Maintaining this course may well prove just as tough.

Non-financial US corporates have launched a flurry a euro-denominated bonds in recent months, driven by attractive yields and the euro/dollar swap rate.

If Europe’s economy remains in crisis, then someone please tell the bond markets. The ECB’s asset purchase programme has driven half of the EU’s sovereign debt pile into negative yield territory. And Draghi’s plan has only just started. Funds see little choice but to follow the QE monster on its path of destruction through the yield curve. Will that lead to the surreal outcome of all EU sovereigns yielding the same, regardless of credit quality?

At times the ECB seems to lurk so far behind the curve that it appears to be using some sort of random monetary-policy generator.

Negative bond yields herald negative CDS; investment grade and high yield diverge.

Emerging-market corporate debt – the fastest-growing asset class in the world – faces its first stress test, thanks to a surging dollar and rising US yields. As developing countries square up to another possible debt crisis, an increasingly inevitable round of corporate defaults threatens to swamp an illiquid market.

Bill Winters has some big decisions to mull while he prepares to start his new job as Standard Chartered chief executive.

Soon after Bill Winters was appointed CEO of Standard Chartered, his highest-profile protégé from their shared days at JPMorgan also announced a new job.

The pretence of knowledge is the curse of the financial world, especially when we live in such uncertain times. There are very few certainties left.

Outflows of $2 billion in one week; investors seek shorter duration.

Critics may cry foul at the moral hazard but Beijing has bought itself time with its debt swap for local governments.

Property continues to be popular. The big sovereign wealth funds appreciate the long-term prospects of developing countries, and have the flexibility to chase opportunities across structures, markets and cycles.

Asset management is being squeezed by tougher stress testing and regulatory controls. Only the biggest players seem set to survive.

Small Asian firm has big European ambitions; expands into debt capital markets.

Increased costs outweigh better revenues; technology will take time to repay investments.

Tax regime to encourage market; JSE outstrips national growth.

South Africa is plagued by slow growth and escalating debt levels. So how can the country’s new minister of finance, Nhlanhla Nene, get the economy moving again while balancing the budget?

Optimism over a possible rally in bank stocks will prove short-lived if banks cannot allocate capital to businesses with adequate and sustainable returns.

Few thought that the marriage of a Chinese securities firm with an Asian brokerage which had a unique, and at times disruptive, culture could work. But two years on, Citic and CLSA have proved they can be at least the sum of their parts. Can the combination now become a true regional powerhouse as its leaders hope?

Having the largest and most successful corporations in Asia as clients brings prestige and profit to the banks involved, but just beneath the very top is where the fight for the spoils of the future is raging. How do you pick – and bank – Asia's next generation of corporate champions?