Ukraine’s recent debt restructuring agreements with international bondholders give it a better prospect of returning to market once its war with Russia ends. But the IMF – more used to pulling countries out of purely economic crises – faces a policy challenge in assisting a country at war.

The market is awash with speculation over what Credit Suisse might do in its latest strategic reset, and what the future is for its perennially underperforming investment bank. But as talk mounts of radical cuts to come in that division, the real challenge lies elsewhere.

Banks may soon match energy companies for political unpopularity – posting soaring profits, even as customers struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, and higher interest rates. To safeguard their long-term interests, banks need to show much greater social awareness in their actions.

In what was supposed to be a banner year for Poland’s banks, free universal mortgage holidays are set to halve profits in the sector in 2022. Many fear the government will extend the policy as elections approach in 2023. Are Poland’s attacks on mortgage interest margins in the name of fighting Russia-fuelled inflation a sign of things to come elsewhere?

With Turkey maintaining its ties with Russia, the risk of secondary sanctions against Turkish banks rises. But even if such sanctions are targeted, the central bank’s policies are already risking a deeper crisis.

One of the architects of Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank leaves a complex legacy.

With more than 220 million homes to renovate, banks must provide the necessary funding to avoid being left with non-compliant housing assets. But a lack of standardized data on energy performance certificates makes it difficult to justify lending to some homeowners.

The European Central Bank has made it clear that it would look favourably on big bank mergers to create stronger pan-eurozone lenders. But M&A between large lenders in different eurozone states is still stalling through financial and political fragmentation – despite hopes for a closer union after Brexit and the war in Ukraine.

UK regulators have pushed big banks to establish an innovative form of payment that could leave fintechs struggling.

Getting rid of Natixis’ minority shareholders has helped the investment bank use the strength of mutual group BPCE’s balance sheet, says divisional leader Nicolas Namias. There are some signs it’s making a positive difference.

The European Central Bank has gone out of its way to encourage cross-border mergers that might strengthen the single market in banking. Supervisory board member Edouard Fernandez-Bollo tells Euromoney that this could include mergers between large institutions.

While Germany fires up its coal-burning power stations once more, it’s almost as if the country itself is protesting.

If Russia stops the gas this winter, the damage to European banks will be worse than Covid, and Germany will be at the centre of the storm.

HSBC’s interim result shows that banks are drawing a line under pandemic-related provisions, while simultaneously setting aside new ones for the disease’s economic cure. All banks must make this transition, but HSBC has other things to worry about besides: a campaign from China’s Ping An to split the bank in half.

UK policymakers are trapped between reducing inflation and boosting the flagging economy.

A new chairman and chief executive at the Swiss bank once again struggle with how to build an investment bank for tomorrow from one that is floundering badly today.

Corporate bond deals in euros are now a rarity as issuers and investors struggle to judge the new price of credit.

While ING is paring back the retail-banking ambitions held dear by former CEO Ralph Hamers, sustainable finance is helping the wholesale bank become a growth engine for the group.

Markets welcome surprise 50bp hike but question new bond-buying programme and ECB’s capacity to judge spread widening as unwarranted.

Raffael Gasser is a hybrid: part Zurich wealth manager, part Silicon Valley disruptor. He was tasked with crunching data to serve ‘classic’ PB customers who sit just below the ultra-wealthy segment and are often, curiously, overlooked. Here is how he got on.

China’s support for Russia is part of its strategy to reduce the world’s dependence on the greenback – might it work?

Supply-chain disruption has driven up corporate stock holdings. Firms may move excess inventory off balance sheet.

Wealth managers are keen to engage with clients on biodiversity, but concerns over liquidity and access pose challenges to retail and private clients.

Best Investment Bank: Trigon

The transaction services franchise at UniCredit combines an international network with much deeper regional coverage than other banks, typically US rivals, which lack the same network in central and eastern Europe.

Despite selling some retail banks in central and eastern Europe to OTP, mostly in smaller markets, Societe Generale remains heavily involved in financing in this region under its global banking and advisory unit, led in CEE, Middle East and Africa by Denis Stas de Richelle. In Czech Republic and Romania, SocGen’s international banking operations are plugged into its local universal banks. But even as it has sold banks in other countries, it has sought to hold on to its sovereign and corporate clients there. It also enjoys a cooperation agreement with OTP in corporate and investment banking.

Euromoney's Country Awards for Excellence 2022: Central and Eastern Europe

Despite its growth into one of biggest banks in Romania, small and medium-sized enterprises remain core to the strategy of Banca Transilvania and SMEs constitute a large proportion of its lending. In 2021, its SME loan portfolio reached L19.2 billion ($4.06 billion), with L3.7 billion of new loans during the year, reaching 18,000 SMEs and micro-enterprises.

Greater support for capital-light investment banking business at UniCredit since the arrival of Andrea Orcel as chief executive in early 2021 is fostering a change in mindset in the firm’s advisory franchise. The region’s best bank for advisory also brought support in terms of product and sector expertise thanks to hires in Munich and Milan. That’s adding to the bank’s existing advantages in terms of geographic coverage, which includes around 50 M&A bankers spread across eight central and eastern European markets.

Turkish banks are known across Europe for their advances in digital banking. This is often attributed to a relative lack of legacy IT infrastructure, but it’s also due to early investments in digital banking, as well as factors such as a younger retail base in the home market.