China desperately needs better quality urbanization, with a people-orientated strategy, through reforms to social welfare programmes and the so-called hukou system, the household registration process. Without urgent redress, the rapid urbanization drive threatens to sow the seeds of social instability and exacerbate the divide between the rich and poor.

If the mainstream parties don’t reform now, they face much worse later, says Alberto Gallo, Head of European Macro Credit Research at RBS

Banks that are desperate to reduce costs are cutting their IT budgets across the board, but the one growth area for technology vendors is in compliance systems. The rapid speed and growth in the number of global transactions combined with a growing number of watch-lists have caused banks’ operational costs for sanctions compliance to sky-rocket.

China’s incoming leadership must to do more to fix deep-seated structural problems hurting the economy. If they don’t face up to the challenge, the country’s future growth and social cohesion is at risk, says Louis Kuijs, Chief China Economist at RBS.

It will be one of the biggest shakeups in finance since the 2008 crash. But few financial firms have so far grasped the revolution about to hit derivatives trading as new rules are introduced on both sides of the Atlantic this year and next, says Fred Matt, Global Head of Prime Services Sales at RBS.

Regulatory capture, a pro-cyclical hike in capital costs and the intrusive micro-management of liabilities – the volley of criticism over European insurance reform, known as Solvency II, echoes the dissent that has blighted new banking regulation. It’s not clear whether even the 2016 deadline will be met.

High yields and the ECB’s backstop, in theory, suggest pension funds could consider a tentative return to peripheral sovereign credits. However, reputational risk, febrile market sentiment and a lack of relative value means strategic real money institutional allocations are few and far between.

The 2022 World Cup, hosted by Qatar, has galvanised the country’s infrastructure investment and made it the fastest-growing area in the Middle East. But there’s more behind this growth than football, offering potential business opportunities for years to come.

Gear up for another bumper year in the leveraged loan market – even in Europe – amid competitive yields, a pick-up in M&A activity and tentative signs of economic recovery.

Regulation forcing up the cost of borrowing has been eased and delayed. With loan volumes low and banks’ lending capacity high, now is the time for companies to consider loan financing. Pippa Crawford, Head of Loan Capital Markets EMEA at RBS, explains.