Nothing in China is straightforward, but everything happens for a reason.

A decade ago, European banks were mainstays on stock sales such as Ant’s – now they're conspicuous by their absence.

The move by China’s central bank to tighten the regulatory screws on non-financial firms that own financial assets is long overdue. That it happened in the run-up to the blockbuster IPO of Ant Group – the ever-growing digital and financial firm – is certainly curious.

China’s new ‘dual circulation’ economic system aims to slash imports while keeping export growth high. Analysts say it is simple protectionism and will only lead to more trade conflicts.

Everything points to intense pressure for Hong Kong’s markets: global pandemic, geopolitics, local unrest. Yet HKEX just had a record first half. Its chief executive explains why.

Baoshang’s failure in August marked the first collapse of a Chinese bank in 22 years. As bank runs rise, trust firms run into trouble and more struggling lenders are merged, experts are asking: how bad is China’s financial crisis?

Does the investment manager’s decision to shutter its Hong Kong office and relocate to Shanghai matter?

The US and China are growing apart by the day, and whether Trump or Biden is in the White House come January may make no difference. What does this mean for financial institutions everywhere?

As the US turns its back on China, US-listed mainland firms are rushing to complete secondary share sales. For all the challenges facing Hong Kong, this week’s market debut by JD.com and Yum China’s $2 billion beauty parade, are signs of a market in rude health.

Mainland Chinese firms invested $72.2 billion in Africa between 2014 and 2018, much of it through the Belt and Road Initiative. Now that Covid-19 has struck, there is a growing sense of unease in Beijing over calls to write off debt to stressed African states.

African governments and SOEs owe China more than $150 billion and Covid-19 is limiting their ability to repay. Will this usher in debt-trap diplomacy or are Chinese lenders playing a longer game?

Will forcing all foreign firms to comply with US audit standards be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in Beijing?

China has moved closer to approving its first onshore real estate investment trusts. When tax and gearing issues are overcome, the market could overtake the US to be the world’s largest, bankers say.

Foreign capital is flooding into Chinese bonds, but investors would be wise to scrutinize the myriad ways by which issuers can wriggle out of meeting their obligations. China’s bond markets are vibrant and attractive, but – all too often – unruly.

China is pushing back against claims it could have done more to combat Covid-19; it could help itself by being more open about who owes it money – and clamping down on corporate shenanigans at home.

Global banks are finally getting full access to China’s capital markets. Regulators will let them own joint ventures outright as they roll out a host of services from forex to advisory to wealth management. For Beijing it’s a final frontier – and there’s no going back.

The coronavirus lockdown turned WiMi’s IPO roadshow into an all-digital affair – although that may have done the augmented reality firm a favour; the Beijing-based AR specialist is now eyeing expansion into southeast Asia.

Shanghai’s new Nasdaq-style bourse has done more IPOs and raised more capital than any Chinese exchange – including Hong Kong – during the Covid-19 crisis. Questions remain, but so far the Star Market has been a resounding success.

In 2008, China unveiled a huge stimulus package that staved off recession. Its uneasy ‘halfway-stimulus’ approach to the Covid-19 crisis is a tacit admission that Beijing just cannot afford to turn on the taps again.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank president tells Euromoney that Asia’s global development bank is stepping up to help member countries in the face of coronavirus.

While the West is consumed by its own mounting panic, it is easy to forget that China, where coronavirus began, is still in all sorts of trouble: growth rates are tumbling and stimulus is a certainty. Now Covid-19 is making landfall in southeast Asia.

In giving aid to the US, the Jack Ma Foundation has an important message for Trump: close borders to contain a virus, not to contain China.

China is opening its market for distressed bank debt to specialist foreign investors, with LA-based Oaktree the first to set down roots. The market is big and growing, and for the first time, regulators and foreign funds need each other just as much.

When a ‘major deal’ is more misnomer than mind-blowing.

A snack food firm from Wuhan has completed its $70 million IPO in Shanghai, the first out of the gate since Chinese New Year. Its canny bankers helped get regulatory approval by promising to fund the fight to stem the epidemic.

As the death toll rises, China’s big state lenders are being forced to shutter branches and Beijing has reacted by disbursing loans to afflicted companies – but the sector is also hit by slowing credit growth and a sharp rise in NPLs.

In 2016, China’s currency seemed on target for global reserve status. These days, the renminbi appears stuck in reverse, with Beijing looking on passively as its status shrinks and it slides down the global rankings.

DBS evacuated 300 employees from Tower 3 of Singapore’s Marina Bay Finance Centre, after an employee tested positive for coronavirus. It comes as banks across the region re-examine worst-case scenarios as the pathogen spreads.

Euromoney's latest coverage of how Beijing is seeking to globalize the renminbi, through currency swaps and trade-financing facilities; the rise of the offshore bond market; and how fee-hungry banks are salivating at the prospect of the RMB’s growth.

Across Asia, the coronavirus is hampering banks’ ability to run roadshows, and even hold meetings, and some business continuity plans are starting to kick in.