The virtue of private capital is that it can withstand short-term volatility in valuations of assets held for the long term – and now is the time to prove that.

Debt forgiveness may stave off an immediate banking crisis in the country hardest hit so far, but the longer-term outlook is grave.

UPDATED March 20: Corporate bond market volatility returned with a vengeance in early March as the coronavirus struck. Will the growth in ETFs, together with advances in portfolio trading, mean the market is better able to cope with crisis than before?

Zoonotic diseases will rise due to deforestation, says Zurich Insurance Group’s head of sustainability risk, while one report shows key financial institutions have yet to adopt deforestation policies.

Bankers say state guarantees to support payment holidays could prevent loan defaults.

Emerging Europe’s economies are vulnerable to trade disruption from Covid-19, but strong macro fundamentals and robust banks will limit the impact.

There are legitimate criticisms of pandemic bonds, but the lunatic conspiracy theories online amid the coronavirus panic are damaging; the World Bank’s failure to refute them clearly is a mistake.

The economic fallout from the virus is beginning to impact regional currencies and growth forecasts.

UPDATED March 23: The initial 12-week period ends today, meaning that the bonds could be triggered in two weeks' time

The new aid is targeted at developing countries; demand is already seen in all regions.

Recent years have been challenging for market doomsayers, with big equity markets steadily rising and volatility dampened across asset classes. The spread of the coronavirus and understandable fear of its impact has given a boost to professional controversialists.

Across Asia, banks are extending loan facilities and donating facemasks in an effort both to help corporate clients and to burnish their corporate and social credentials in the face of Covid-19.

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.

The cryptocurrency has surged in 2020, as investors worry that coronavirus-exposed equity and bond markets are set to crash.

The interim chief executive unveils a radical three-year restructuring plan that makes abundant strategic sense but carries plenty of execution risk.

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.

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.

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.

It may still be months before the latest coronavirus outbreak in China reaches its peak, so timing is everything for capital market practitioners in the region.

It is rare for financial market professionals to feel they are helping to save the world, but a new capital markets deal from the World Bank to help the poorest countries cope with pandemics might be doing just that