Comment EM and The Cover

Panic has gripped Turkey's markets, sending investors scuttling. Luckily, the loan market has proved once again that it is capable of providing much needed cool heads amid the sea of red on screens this summer.

The sovereign credit crisis spurred lawmakers to undertake a number of major initiatives designed to sever the ‘doom loop’ — the link between sovereign and bank credit risk. Recent events in Italy and Turkey show the limits of these policies, but not their impotence.

Turkey’s self-inflicted problems have had ramifications well beyond its borders and led to comparisons with previous emerging market crises.

I learned a lot of important lessons during my first marriage and subsequent conscious uncoupling. As the saying goes: “whoever said money can’t buy happiness never paid for a divorce”.

Market participants should not become complacent about the battles that are still taking place over the handling of the resolution of Banco Popular, because the outcome is likely to form the blueprint for what will happen when any large European bank fails in the future.

Hong Kong has had its first taste of a pre-revenue biotechnology stock with the listing by Ascletis Pharma. Unfortunately, the company got caught up in a wave of volatility and the shares have not fared well. It was not a good start for biotech but the sector should not be judged by this one deal, as it was just the first from a bulging IPO pipeline.

The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) decision to fine five Nordic banks last week has raised two questions: just how consistently will rules be applied across Europe, and is it even appropriate that they are?

Bond index providers are racing to include Chinese bonds in their benchmarks. But before taking the leap, they should study a recent decision on A-share inclusion — and the sceptical response it got from investors.

The concept behind the European Secured Note was never genuinely driven by a desire to improve bank funding options, but by a need to ring-fence the quality of assets in covered bonds.

France may be top of the world in football but the country’s equity capital market is starting to look a bit second division.

Populist politicians challenging their central banks and blaming foreign businesses for their country’s woes is not normally something investors expect from the United States, but President Trump forces investors to think about political risks which are far more common in emerging markets.

M&A volumes across the EMEA region have soared to multi-year highs according to various reports released this week, and loan volumes in certain regions have rocketed with it. But the big headline figures belie a syndicated loan market that is limping towards year end.