The Spanish group’s rise to private banking prominence didn’t happen overnight. An internal merger helped, as did work integrating Europe and Latin America. The next step will be the biggest of all, as it begins a concerted push into the US.

East Capital co-founder Karine Hirn began her investing career in Russia in the 1990s before moving to China to head up the firm’s Asian expansion. She discusses the challenges of the Chinese market, why eastern Europe has the edge on corporate boards and why governance is key to ESG.

For years, trade finance and cross-border payments have looked ripe for disruption by distributed-ledger technologies. Asia provides some firm examples of breakthroughs, but – in the second of a two-part series – Euromoney asks whether trade finance will always be just that little bit too complicated for the blockchain?

It’s an asset class that took years to establish itself in China and Asia. But investors are turning their attention to an asset class that promises chunky returns without the risk borne by primary buyout funds.

As Lebanon’s dollar reserves disappear, time is running out. Central bank governor Riad Salamé’s tweaks to the banking sector will have little effect and commercial bankers’ attempts to resurrect dollar inflows sound deluded. Is recovery possible without a change in financial leadership?

The wild markets of March 2020 revealed the capacity for severe dysfunction in what should be the soundest market of all – US treasury bonds. Can any market be expected to cope with such conditions without extraordinary help?

When the panic of March 2020 hit, did corporate debt fare better than Treasuries?

If the market for sustainable finance is ever to achieve true scale, it needs to crack the tough nut of sustainable trade finance solutions.

Previously known as reverse factoring, sustainable supply-chain finance is one of the products currently generating the most interest among both banks and their corporate clients.

Fourth-quarter numbers from Asia’s biggest trade finance banks suggest that business in the region has bounced back rapidly. Corporates have changed their approach to their manufacturing bases and supply chains, and have accelerated their use of technology. In the first of a two-part series, Euromoney finds there are lessons here for the rest of the world when the pandemic eventually eases.

An abundance of low-cost finance and soaring stock market valuations are driving M&A towards record levels. But as M&A fever spreads, so riskier deals based on more dubious logic are appearing.

Brazil's Nubank is the world’s most valuable fintech in the digital banking space – now worth over $25 billion. In his first interview this year, chief executive and co-founder David Velez explains why he’s in no rush to IPO and why he would rather focus on the huge opportunity left in Brazil and elsewhere in the region.

SoFi had plenty of options, so its choice of a Spac validates that structure for listing and raising capital. Can it now challenge the biggest US banks?

Donald Trump reversed a deal that would have brought Iran back into the international fold. Now Joe Biden intends to reverse Trump’s reversal. Does that mean good times ahead for Iran’s banks?

To have one of your leading shareholders demand an extraordinary general meeting is unfortunate – two looks like a pattern. Japanese corporate giant Toshiba is facing a messy situation.

Daniel Darahem has returned from Asia to take the reins of JPMorgan’s Brazilian business. He predicts that the coming decade will witness transformation at a speed never seen before for both the bank and the country.

From Covid relief funds to the COP26 climate summit, sustainability is expected to dominate the global agenda this year as never before.

The battle for control of Petropavlovsk has been raging since the board and management were unexpectedly voted out at the AGM in June. But only now has it become clear the role a conversion of bonds may have played. At issue are allegations of unequal bondholder treatment.

A strong year means chief executive Bruce Van Saun is in the enviable position of having options.

Litigation funding has surged in recent years. The asset class is catnip to yield-hungry investors, with funders expanding from their roots in Australia and the UK to tap new markets from Germany to Brazil and the US.

The digital dividend dominated the cash management market in 2020. Corporates responded well to those banks that digitalized the services they needed to stay afloat in the choppy waters of a global pandemic.

The volatility of 2020 has pushed listings of special purpose acquisition companies to record levels. But the gradual shedding of their fly-by-night reputation is also driving the surge.

Nobody had more to lose from the suspension of the Ant float than the bookrunners, in particular the joint sponsors. They had closed books on a record deal that looked good not just for them and Ant but for the Greater China capital markets. There are many questions about what happens next: how should Ant be reshaped to revive the listing and who should share the blame for not responding to shifting regulatory sands?

China’s decision to scrap Ant Group’s IPO made headlines around the world. But why did the Party act so late and why is it so concerned about Ant? Euromoney looks at the reasons behind the decision and asks what the future holds for a firm hemmed in by a raft of new rules on everything from online lending to anti-trust and data privacy.

A new Swiss-Singaporean enterprise styles itself as the world’s first digital asset bank. It is regulated, resembles the structure of a mainstream bank and has some high-visibility advisers and investors, among them Peter Wuffli. Will it work?

Post-2008 accounting standards set aside capital for tomorrow’s problem loans today. In doing so, they rely on the judgements of the banks themselves. However, after Covid-19, European banks cannot afford to provision for write-offs in the same way as their US counterparts.

UBS’s strategy of creating emerging markets growth through partnerships is writ large in its joint venture with Banco do Brasil. Can the new entity become more than the sum of its parts?

It is the time of year when global banks publish their wealth reports. This year they make for compelling reading. Euromoney takes the best of these reports and examines the outlook for 2021.

Real estate investment trusts are the mainstay of Singapore listings, a rare example of liquidity and foreign interest in an otherwise dull local bourse. Two contrasting mergers tell intriguing stories about where the Reit market goes from here.

China’s asset management industry barely existed 20 years ago. By 2030 it will be the world’s second largest. There are myriad ways for foreign firms to get it right – or horribly wrong. Here are Euromoney’s precepts for a better chance of winning – and avoiding failure.