More flexible payments for companies risk damaging the plumbing through which money flows and draining market liquidity. Financial institutions and regulators are therefore firmly focused on tightening up liquidity management to ensure that doesn’t happen.

The divide between rich and poor has widened across the globe since the 1960s. But shifting demographics could start to redress some of the balance towards ordinary workers.

The regulatory push for change presents businesses and banks with opportunities as well as challenges. Here’s a run-down of just some of the positive impacts of Basel III, FATCA, SEPA, Dodd Frank, the revised Payment Services Directive, and intraday liquidity requirements.

As the European Commission (EC) moves forward with its first regulatory engagement with the shadow banking sector, policy experts argue that more work needs to be done to understand the relationship between banks and non-banks, and the ways in which shadow lenders – previously beyond the regulatory perimeter – contribute to the financial infrastructure as a whole.

The strong appetite for floating rate bonds might be tested by volatility, triggered by the Fed’s decision to delay tapering, but for now demand for investment-grade floaters, in particular, is red-hot, leaving bankers and investors to ask how long the rally can last.

Derivatives traded on Asia’s exchanges are staging a recovery, with equity index futures leading the way – despite a looming threat from global regulation aimed at taming a sector widely blamed for the financial crisis.

Corporate treasurers are increasingly focused on managing working capital better when buying and selling – and many now realise that supply chain finance (SCF) can help. By breaking down the silos between the purchasing, selling and treasury functions of a business, SCF can ensure good risk management, boost liquidity and improve the balance sheet.

Investors may have been too quick to jettison Asian assets during their recent pullback from emerging markets. While some economies – including India and Indonesia – have proved vulnerable to fears of scarcer global liquidity, Asia’s emerging economies still boast stronger macro fundamentals and are better prepared for capital outflows than during earlier crises.

Discord exists among corporates, banks and regulators over the approach to bringing payments into global harmony.

European regulators are beginning to get to grips with previously hidden quarters of the shadow banking system with a series of proposals to regulate money market funds (MMFs).