Is boring the new sexy? A long time ago, or so it seems, opaque was opalescent. Do you remember how, in early 2007, we marvelled at the alphabet soup of products banks were cooking up? As outsiders, we might have wrinkled our nose at such terms as CDOs, CLOs, SIVs, conduits and warehouses, but we knew bankers were much cleverer than the rest of us (they were paid so much more after all), so these creations had to be good things. To mere mortals, complex banking was creative, canny and above all glamorous, while the shadowy world of hedge funds and private equity was glamour squared.

Have you recently found yourself trying without success to understand the causes and implications of the financial crisis? Have you longed in vain for the soothing words of a celebrity from the field of popular entertainment to explain to you in layman’s terms what is happening in the world of finance and what it means for you?

Just when government bond investors were growing concerned at fast-deteriorating public finances and huge new supply of bonds to pay for stimulus plans and financial system bailouts, along came a new group of buyers to cap rising yields. Politicians and policymakers know they need to restore confidence to the markets, and central bank quantitative easing, creating money to buy government bonds, certainly looks like a confidence trick.

A code of conduct for credit rating agencies does nothing to deal with their inherent conflicts of interest.

Saudi debt markets are set for a resilient year, with the promise of more to come.

If China’s capital markets are to mobilize funds a simpler, more coordinated regulatory system is imperative.

Some of the smartest people in investment banking are seizing a unique opportunity to set up boutiques.

Diversified payment rights issuance offers an alternative to dollar funding.

New UBS chairman and chief executive show the pressure the country’s banking system is under.

With the authorities throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the markets, they need to make sure that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

Nomura’s handling of SK Telecom’s $300 million five-year convertible bond has left the market asking if it was the bold stroke that will establish the firm as a big player in Asia’s equity-linked market or an over-aggressive piece of business that could harm the market and the bank alike.

How do you explain the credit crunch to those outside financial circles? One banker recently told Euromoney that investment banks used to be dating agencies for capital markets:

Much criticism has been hurled at Tim Geithner during his brief tenure as US Treasury secretary, but no one can say that he is not doing his bit to counterbalance job losses on Wall Street.

Chris Allington has resigned as co-head of G10 currency trading at the combined Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Allington, who was confirmed in the role alongside Chris Vogel in early January, is believed to be headed for Goldman Sachs, which as ever, has declined to comment.

Michael Ervolini, chief executive of Cabot Research, a behavioural finance adviser to investors, says that an increasing number of investment managers are beginning to analyse their buying and selling behaviour to increase returns. According to Ervolini, most managers could capture more than 100 basis points more in alpha by better understanding their behavioural tendencies.

Adrian Walkling has quit UBS, where he was co-head of FICC Distribution, EMEA. He is believed to be headed for a senior sales role at Standard Chartered in Singapore.