They seemed to be emerging, blinking, into the light of a normal financial system under former president Mauricio Macri, but that moment has gone; the new administration has sent real rates negative, while economic and credit growth look to be years away.

Volumes more than doubled in March; before the coronavirus crisis hit, Euromoney spoke to market participants about why portfolio trading will transform bond market liquidity.

DBS’s chief executive has transformed it into a globally respected bank and a leader in digital finance.

HSBC’s strategy shift will see it deploy more capital, assets and risk to the region.

Recruited to set up a national payments system, the central bank’s Olga Skorobogatova has overseen initiatives to protect consumers and promote competition in Russia’s banking sector.

While stock market valuations collapse, private equity buyers have never had so much cash to put to work; the severity and sudden onset of the sell-off took them by surprise but they are already looking to make new investments across the capital structure of companies that will survive the lockdowns.

Corporate treasurers are doing everything they can to keep businesses running as smoothly as possible during these challenging times.

Banks came into the coronavirus pandemic much stronger than they went into the global financial crisis, but will the capital and liquidity buffers they have built be sufficient to see them through the most dramatic economic crash in history?

A blizzard of monetary and fiscal policy announcements finally began to calm market nerves this week; but bankers and analysts are struggling to figure out what more might be needed – and just what kind of crisis this is.

In June, Singapore’s regulator will hand licences to three new wholesale digital banks in a bid to better serve under-banked SMEs.

Retail banking has been disrupted.

Expo 2020 showcases economic and business opportunities in Dubai.

Despite MSCI index inclusion and a landmark trade by Saudi Aramco, global funds are still $70 billion underweight Gulf equities, but the UAE and Saudi are making progress in deepening markets.

The government’s response to the lack of financial inclusion is to build thousands of new banks throughout the country, but it faces a big challenge in weaning potential customers away from the black economy.

The leading banks in Euromoney’s Trade Finance Survey 2020 comment on the highlights of the last 12 months and their expectations for the year to come.

With Santander Brasil registering record profits and Santander Mexico promising the same, the outlook for the group looks Latin.

Across the UK, Legal & General has invested over £22 billion in affordable housing, homes for the homeless, clean energy, life sciences, creative industries, and technology and infrastructure.

The investment bank’s move into new business lines is proving tougher and more expensive than expected.

Analysts think that FAB has the best potential platform of any bank in the region.

As the bank finally grapples with the restructuring it has needed for years, there are reasons to be optimistic.

Despite tough conditions at home and globally, DBS keeps delivering.

Investors are buying into ICBC’s business growth in diverse areas such as asset management and investment banking.

The bank may be at the peak of its value creation, as the government looks to promote greater competition in Brazilian banking.

‘Business as usual’ has been tough for the Swiss bank to achieve over the last 12 months.

The global bank has refreshed its senior management but needs to start demonstrating its platform can deliver best-in-class returns.

The world-leading bank aims to stay big with long-term investments, no matter what difficult conditions the market throws up.

The Chinese bank is making a big push in areas such as financial inclusion as it targets sustainable ways to build its business and support the Chinese economy.

A successful international strategy offers relief from stagnant domestic markets.

The Qatari bank is investing at home and abroad, growing its loan book and building strong operations in Egypt and Turkey.

Spain’s biggest bank is moving further away from its deal-making past, instead seeing a way forward for its troubled US and UK banks in payments and cloud technology.

If Brazil does well, Bradesco does well.

BNP Paribas will reach the end of its three year ‘transformation’ plan in 2020; how has it fared?

While many European peers languish, Barclays’ transatlantic pivot is paying off – and helping it build elsewhere.

Returning money to shareholders was an important milestone; building revenues and controlling costs remains the key task.

Backed by a powerful domestic franchise, Bank of America is performing well through turbulent markets.

Being the world’s leading wealth manager presents challenges in this market environment.

Italy’s biggest bank has surpassed expectations; higher dividends and share buy-backs could maintain its appeal.

Deep analysis of the performance of Euromoney’s core 25 global banks shows them struggling to drive momentum in the face of difficult markets, high capital requirements and low-to-negative rates.

The senior management team at HSBC looks increasingly chaotic.

Investors have rewarded cuts but restructuring may soon recommence, sparking fears of collateral damage in businesses it still cherishes.

With falling rates in Europe and the US, and Turkey still in trouble, only Latin America – especially Mexico – can keep up BBVA’s spirits.

With wealth management outperforming even its senior management’s expectations, the US firm is looking to build in other areas.

The bank is penetrating deeper into its home markets to complement its long-standing international growth initiatives.

Sustainable financing is gaining ground in corporate Russia as firms look to improve their environmental, social and governance policies ‒ but can the country’s notorious polluters really go green?

When RBS floated Citizens Financial in 2014, it was the biggest bank IPO since the financial crisis and investors were sceptical of its prospects ‒ five years on and RoE and EPS have doubled, the stock trades at a premium, and the bank has shown it can compete with bigger US banks and non-banks alike.

Euromoney has spoken to 20 sustainable finance experts about what is needed to make efforts more effective.

The second of our six proposals to make sustainable finance work is for firms to mandate the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Leading bankers in sustainable finance fear that, despite the advances and the rhetoric, the industry is not moving quickly enough.

Euromoney has spoken to 20 sustainable finance experts about what is needed to bring about real progress.

How can sustainable finance be moved into the mainstream and made to work better? The fifth of our six recommendations is to target deforestation reduction.

Euromoney has drawn up six recommendations for the sustainable finance sector, based on the views of 20 experts in the field.

What needs to happen for sustainability to be adopted by mainstream finance and move beyond the realm of pledges, panels and press releases? The first of our six recommendations is for banks to sign up to the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB).

A $30 billion bond from AbbVie has given US dollar investment-grade corporate debt volumes a boost late in the year, but net issuance is down and the outlook is mixed.

It was a bold call to launch a specialist credit business in Asia in 2009, but SC Lowy celebrates its 10th birthday as an established figure in distressed debt and high yield not just at home but also increasingly in Europe.

There were times in the late 1970s and 1980s when Japan dominated entire editions of Euromoney.

The desire to bring secondary-market trading to illiquid private equity is growing.

The failure of the We Company IPO and the poor performance of Uber and Lyft suggest that investment banks have lost their ability to price IPOs.

The SoFi co-founder’s second act involves eliminating ‘rent seekers’ from the capital markets.

Trade finance and cash management may have come under the spotlight in the last 10 years since the financial crash, but these are businesses that Euromoney has covered since launch, especially focusing on how technology has the potential to transform the sector.

VTB has long lagged state-owned rival Sberbank in terms of profitability, but with sanctions limiting access to capital the pressure is on to close the gap – chairman Andrey Kostin explains why digital transformation and aggressive retail growth hold the key to success for Russia’s second-largest lender.

The EMEA treasury director at CBRE says: 'Treasury can be truly transformed by introducing technology.'

The Latin American nation has gone all-out to rebuild its natural environment over the last three decades, with great results – now it needs the rest of the world to pay attention.

Using a model of up-front financing for large one-off projects, project finance for permanence may be the mechanism that can help reach the goal of 50% of the planet’s natural areas being protected in perpetuity.

Tiny Bhutan has a claim to fame as the first and only country that can claim to be not only carbon neutral but dramatically carbon negative.

The Seychelles was the first country to issue a debt-for-nature swap to protect its marine environment; it was also the first to issue a blue bond, raising capital to finance sustainable marine and ocean-related projects.

Deforestation – and the cattle farming that largely drives it – has caught the world’s attention.

The rhino impact bond has sparked excitement that financial tools can play a role in helping Africa conserve its wildlife.

Carbon markets, particularly offsets, are shaking off their past and becoming a vital instrument for reaching CO2 reduction goals, protecting and conserving biodiversity at scale, as well as meeting many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean up water supplies, prevent the loss of biodiversity, mitigate fire and flood risk and meet the nutritional requirements of a growing population the world must improve its regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices – new tools and support from the financial services industry are needed to fund that transition.

Climate is no longer the only risk in town: thanks to a loud call from the scientific community, nature has finally been given a seat at the table with finance ministers, regulators and central bank governors.