Agence France Locale is making a €1 billion benchmark debut in November.

Agencies such as Kommuninvest, Munifin and KommuneKredit might not be the best known in the capital markets. But a growing global community of investors can’t get enough of their paper. Is it an example that others want to follow?

“They were valuing (the assets) using discounted cash flow, which gives a different value about, let’s say, 10 times the actual value of the market price. He wanted me to write a paper saying that not only was this possible but that it was appropriate”

“Do not make any moves. You have been spotted”The slightly alarming message that popped up onto a blank screen when one of our correspondents tried to log in the press centre website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy & Trade

Ricardo Salgado went to war with a rival pillar of the Portuguese business establishment in his frantic efforts to shore up Espírito Santo group. But Pedro Queiroz Pereira had the last laugh

Bankers in Lisbon say the demise of BES is a watershed moment for the country: the turning point when old Portugal became new Europe. Ricardo Salgado tried every trick he knew to save his empire, but found that the Portuguese establishment could not – or would not – save him. How did Salgado’s efforts to shore up Espírito Santo through the commercial paper market hasten, rather than avert, his downfall?

Word reaches us from Seoul of a fabulous new career direction for Macquarie’s Korea head, John Walker.

Most things that world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo frequently touches – especially footballs, and in his own mind at least his slick-gelled hair – turn out perfectly.

You couldn’t make it up. Yet investigators across the world are trying to determine if making it up is exactly what Banco Espírito Santo’s Ricardo Salgado did in Lisbon. Lausanne corporate advisor Eurofin has found itself uncomfortably inside the maelstrom.

At $25 billion, Alibaba’s IPO, completed last month, is the biggest in history. Its first day pop of 36.3% was the biggest ever for any IPO of over $10 billion.

After barely a year in the job Danske’s CEO Thomas Borgen is overseeing a revival in its fortunes. He clearly has the skills to make a difference, but can he outsmart the legacy challenges as well as inevitable changes coming to Danish banking?

The country’s financial regulators are playing hardball on minimum regulatory capital requirements, mostly because of mortgage risk weights. Analysts argue that the Riksbank is using the wrong tool for the job and might even be damaging the economy as a result.

Argentina’s president has tried to circumvent a New York ruling that caused it to default for the second time in 13 years. Can Cristina Fernández de Kirchner sort out the mess before elections in October 2015?

This month, this column is all about investment management. For as long as I can remember, investment bankers and traders have been the rock and roll stars of the financial world.

I was intrigued to see that Blackstone, the leading private equity firm, is disengaging from Russia.

European financial markets were shaken in September by the sudden death of Emilio Botín, the chairman of Banco Santander.

The fine handed out to Arab Bank for allegedly financing Hamas poses fundamental questions for the banking industry.

Since the US Federal Reserve met in September the data has been tortured and every word pored over. Why are we in awe of the crystal ball gazing of supposed experts?

China is pushing it as a way for Asia to free itself from the institutions of the west. But can it force through its formation when so many other countries in the region seem reluctant to add to the balance sheet and to China’s dominance?

Mexico’s government has introduced a swathe of structural reforms that aim to cut key input costs in the economy, arrest deteriorating productivity and improve the country’s long-term growth rates. However, it is the finance minister’s recent energy reforms that have most made economists and investors buoyant about the outlook for Latin America’s second biggest economy.

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan is battling inflation and crony capitalists to open a new chapter in the Asian superpower’s growth story. Rajan – Euromoney’s central bank governor of the year 2014 – reveals his blueprint for reforms and issues a stark warning about the cracks in the global economy.

The ECB president is striving to stave off deflation in the eurozone yet Germany will not countenance full quantitative easing. Something must give.

The surge in China-related trade financing might not be as encouraging as the pure numbers indicate.

Intra-African trade is hindered by protectionism, while historical feuds threaten long-term development. The authorities should be doing more to fight these issues.

No contagion risk from Argentina and Brazil; China now its leading export market.

$600 million Canada Bread financing; ‘only Mexican by zip code’.

Vital reforms unlikely; next president will inherit inflation headache.

Alibaba lists on NYSE; deal might free up pipeline.

Often touted as having the region’s best growth prospects, the nation is struggling to make sure those hopes come true and aren’t dashed by poor foundations.

Global banks and their corporate clients need to work together to bring billing into modern digital age and more in-line with other industries