Low interest rates, central bank interventions and intra-day market volatility have challenged traditional foreign exchange trading strategies in recent years. In 2012, smart investors embarked on new trading strategies to find pockets of value.

Despite the country’s strong fundamentals and celebrated growth rates in recent years, the economy lost some of its shine in 2012. The government must get over its obsession with the real and concentrate on beefing up productivity and trade, say analysts.

The economy continues to defy the doom-mongers, but to nurture a sustainable and domestic-led growth model China’s new leadership must embark on painful, destabilizing and controversial reforms.

As the US moves toward mandatory over-the-counter trading on swap execution facilities this year, European derivatives dealers are still waiting for European authorities to clarify the regulatory pipeline as fears over market liquidity grow.

International money is flying into emerging market sovereign bond markets with frontier credits, such as Zambia, Mongolia and Bolivia, now boasting low yields. The jury is out on whether there is a bubble brewing in developing bond markets in hard currency.

Fiscal risks in the US, the depreciation of the yen and growth in emerging Asia – opening up more carry trade opportunities – are reasons to believe volatility could return to the foreign exchange market in 2013 after a long hiatus, investors say.

Why has an unprecedented deluge of monetary stimulus since the global financial crisis failed to spark an economic revival in the developed world? One reason could be the inability of debt-soaked economies to further expand private sector borrowing – a key ingredient for growth. But are emerging markets better equipped to maintain the pace of credit expansion?

Investment-grade companies are enjoying an unprecedented era of attractive funding as investors scramble for a decent return in a shrinking universe of safe havens. But, says Myles Clarke, Co-Head of Global Syndicate at RBS, such firms must still be careful or the volatile economic climate could jeopardise an issuance.

Foreign exchange markets are slowly returning to their pre-crisis state, four years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Although difficulties remain because of market jitters and uncertainty over central bank action, Tim Carrington, Global Head of FX at RBS, explains how investors can benefit.

The internationalisation of the renminbi (RMB) may be at an early stage, but the Chinese currency’s role in global trade is set to expand. Sherie Morais says companies need to start thinking now about how they can prepare for and benefit from doing business in RMB.