It’s never quiet in UK banking these days. In a fitting episode of handbags at dawn, Ana Botín, the chief executive of Santander UK, reneged on an agreement to buy 316 branches from RBS. The provisional sale agreement had been signed in the summer of 2010 when António Horta-Osório was running Santander UK. Santander wanted to expand its penetration of the small-business market and was prepared to pay £1.65 billion to do so.

Domestic political concerns continue to stall progress on solving the euro crisis. Fortunately, there are more propitious financial indicators elsewhere in the world.

Basle III proposals would hurt Danish banks; Denmark wants equal treatment in bank union

If there was ever any doubt about who Wall Street wants in the White House, a cursory glance at the top contributors to the campaigns of president Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney clears that up in a hurry. It might even make the president regret being quite so harsh on a group who backed him pretty heavily (for a Democrat) when he was first elected president after a campaign during which he is thought to have broken the world record for saying: "Yes we can".

A wave of lower tier 2 issuance will not deal with Russian banks’ strained capital levels.

With the authorities having achieved a lowering of the current account deficit, expectations for growth in Turkish bank lending are rising again. Quantitative easing has let loose new capital flows into the country, but the dearth of longer-term funding is more serious than ever.

Moody’s change of heart averts high-yield disruption in Europe… for now.

US bank earnings beat forecasts; NIMs raise concerns about profitability

Bond markets would suggest Nigeria’s future is assured. Progress has indeed been made in banking, sovereign finances and power-sector reform. But big challenges remain, as this autumn’s electricity privatizations amply illustrate.

Greg Smith’s memoir about his career at Goldman Sachs could have been subtitled ‘The curious incident of the dog that didn’t bark’.

Brazil’s retail banks need to adapt to a new low interest rate environment. With the years of easy revenue growth seemingly coming to an end, the other side of the efficiency equation – cost – is at the forefront. Technology will be critical to improving efficiency, but will the returns follow the investment?

The benefits of lower Brazilian interest rates are not reaching the bank customers who need them most. Only greater competition between banks will alter this.

When BNP Paribas announced its adaptation plan last year the corporate and investment banking unit was squarely in the firing line. Revenues are down but profitability is resilient – something that CIB head Alain Papiasse argues makes it better positioned than its peers.

Private equity groups see the country as a rare growth market, particular the consumer sector. The only difficulty is fending off competition from other funds – plus finding reasonable valuations and owners willing to give up control.

Ban could force up borrowing costs; Market liquidity already squeezed

JPMorgan has backed its subsidiary with balance sheet and resources, and although the country’s economic growth has slowed the bank’s headcount has continued to rise. CEO Cláudio Berquó says that rather than becoming over-committed, the bank’s new capabilities are enabling it to adapt and build new business.

There is no clearer sign of the strength of investor interest in emerging markets than the scramble for African sovereign bonds, but how long can it last?

Padraic Fallon, the chairman and editor-in-chief of Euromoney Institutional Investor, was the person who highlighted to me the importance of being first. "Write something new, Abigail," he would say. "Always try to be first with your angle or story. Go out and meet new people."

The strategies and dimensions of Gulf sovereign wealth funds are an arcane subject made more mysterious by the lack – apart from Abu Dhabi’s fund – of published annual reports. Euromoney pieces together a picture of their structure from the fragments of information available.

Pandit and Havens used to work at Morgan Stanley. In fact, at one time, Pandit was president of the firm. As James Gorman struggles with John Mack’s legacy, a wild thought crosses my mind. Might Pandit one day return to run his alma mater? Over at Morgan Stanley, Gorman is facing the third anniversary of his ascension to the chief executive throne. And the going has not been easy.

As equity markets founder and Asia’s high-net-worth individuals become more sophisticated, the region’s private banking bid for bonds is driving the international debt markets. Could Asia’s rich professionals be the new Belgian dentists?

As banks in the UK, Ireland and Spain accelerate their disposals of non-core loan portfolios, one European country is conspicuous by its absence – Germany.

The sudden urgency among policymakers to proceed with European banking union stems from a dawning realization of the extent to which national regulators have promoted an opposite response to bank deleveraging: trapping bank capital and liquidity inside their borders to conserve local credit availability.

For more than a decade, Europe was all about the single market – and that included bonds. As bank lending dries up, that’s starting to change. After years of neglect, local capital markets across Europe are on the rise once again as national governments seek to kick-start growth and plug the yawning corporate funding gap.

The world's biggest bank-investor calls for an internationally negotiated rule that enforces penalties against institutions that experience progressive capital shortfalls.