Negotiations on government purchase of Surgutneftegaz stake; Surprise offer to buy out minority shareholders at INA

Launches find it hard to raise capital; Investment banking salaries prove more appealing

If market confidence in the eurozone is to be restored, not just Greece and Ireland but also Portugal and Spain need the attention of the EU’s Financial Stability Facility.

On January 4 the World Bank became the first issuer this year in the developing offshore renminbi bond market, with an Rmb500 million ($75.8 million) 0.95% fixed-rate note due 2013.

Local regulators keen to attract new entrants; Aversion to banks exacerbated by AUB affair

The management reshuffle at UniCredit continues. Two weeks after setting out his strategy for central and eastern Europe, new chief executive Federico Ghizzoni – himself a former head of CEE at the group – named the man who will be charged with implementing it.

IPO outlook solid for 2011; Banks fear investor euphoria threatens danger

Sovereign wealth funds buy in; Firm now valued at $9.7 billion

In his final interview as chief executive of HSBC, the bank he served for almost 40 years, Mike Geoghegan answers the questions that matter. Did he jump or was he pushed? Should HSBC remain supervised and headquartered in the UK? What happened to the Nedbank takeover? Will the bank list in Shanghai? And he reflects on a stellar career that mirrored the globalization of banking, and in which he was forced to deal with many financial crises.

Bank has fought back up the DCM rankings; Merger of DCM and global transaction banking coverage partly explains how

Extent of US bank failures to be revealed in H2 2011; M&A in US banking sector will be subdued

What multinationals really want to know: when can we issue debt on the Chinese mainland?

The SEC’s regulatory interest in the market in private-company shares might cripple this source of funding.

Will South Africa join the growing club of interventionist central banks?

Corporates are still squirrelling away cash, so bond issuance has shrunk. When and how will the cash be put to work?

Banks might refuse to underwrite and distribute sovereign debt at risk of principal reduction.

Bank has had good results by sticking to its derivatives skills; Michel Péretié, head of CIB, is seeing first fruits of investment in M&A advisory

Bondholder standoff on the cards at ailing Punch.

Competition is intense in trade finance banking while the funds banks need to engage in it are harder to raise, reducing margins. Basle III will probably only make things more difficult. So, paradoxically, fierce rivalry runs parallel to collaboration and increased risk sharing. Laurence Neville reports.