As September draws to a close, I am starting to wonder if I am living in a parallel universe. Ben Bernanke seems to have gone barmy. And I wouldn’t blame him. Saving the financial world from itself has been a Herculean task.

Reverse repo to influence non-bank interest rates; money-market funds and GSEs swap cash for collateral.

And talking of Lehman’s bankruptcy, I was intrigued to read an opinion editorial in the Financial Times written by Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of Barclays Bank. Bob of course pounced on the corpse of Lehman Brothers as it was drowning and made off with a succulent limb: the US broker-dealer operations.

Is Bank of America on an upward trajectory? Am I the only person to notice that Bank of America’s economists were a lone voice insisting that the Federal Reserve would not taper in September? Nice call BAML!

Singapore matters. The city-state continues to blaze a trail for the region by shifting its growth model in favour of productivity, securing its presence at the top level of international financial diplomacy. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s finance minister – and Euromoney’s Finance Minister of the Year 2013 – outlines his reform agenda and issues a sharp warning on reform inertia in the region, China’s growth model and destabilizing capital flows.

The IMF’s loss has been Mexico’s gain. Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year, Agustín Carstens, continues to keep a steady hand on the economy’s tiller, his orthodoxy mixed with pragmatism that is helping to propel the country forward. He remains outspoken about the need for reform at the IMF.

Sibos in Dubai was abuzz with a new spirit of confidence and collaboration among banks, but beneath the surface the battle to secure existing clients by doing more with them and to attract new ones is intensifying.

Demand for sophisticated cash management services in China is rising as the authorities press for greater business efficiency at home and Chinese corporates expand their foreign operations. Renminbi liberalization is another driver.

The more exacting capital requirements of Basle III are prompting cash management banks to fine-tune their offerings.

Local banks like to see themselves as uniquely suited to offering cash management services to Brazilian companies. But the global banks are also getting up to speed on idiosyncratic client requirements and local regulation.

HSBC held off the challenge of Citi to hold on to top spot for both corporates and financial institutions in our 2013 rankings. Find out what almost 24,000 voters thought of cash managers in more than 50 countries.

Forget about the Belgian dentists and German doctors of old. Today, Luxembourg’s streets are filling with Chinese bankers. They see the Grand Duchy as a hub for their European operations – not least for trading and settlement of the renminbi. Are London, Frankfurt and Paris in danger of being left behind?

Act now, bankers advise; Weaker names to struggle

Long-only buyers reassert influence; $62.8 billion issuance year-to-date.

Big increase in regional private equity activity; particularly attractive metrics in Brazil.

London should be wary of the Duchy’s ambitions to become Europe’s RMB hub.

Short-term rates must rise; Equities to reverse 20-year underperformance

Focus on income tax and capital gains; Measures promised to reduce number of unbanked

High hopes for sweeping reform; Li says country is at crucial juncture

"The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it." Could these inspiring words from former Wall Street crook now motivational speaker Jordan Belfort persuade director Martin Scorsese to hurry up editing the first cut of his film of Belfort’s drug-fuelled rise and fall as head of boiler-room brokerage Stratton Oakmont? ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ had been slated to open in November – perfect timing for its star, Leonardo DiCaprio, playing Belfort, to make his run for the Oscar that has so far unaccountably eluded him.

Members of the fourth estate are often not at their brightest early in the morning. However, when Euromoney found ourselves sitting in the foyer of a West End hotel last month awaiting a breakfast meeting with a US-based senior financier, even we suspected that something might be amiss.

"The day one of the big oil companies first invoices China for oil in renminbis and receives payment in Chinese government bonds as result is what will really open people’s eyes"

"The first person to hire me in the 1980s hired me to buy bonds for him because he simply couldn’t take the pain of doing it himself any more. He had been investing in bonds for 10 years and had never seen anything go up"

Bank grows trade finance volumes; Expansion continues in emerging markets

Regulatory sanctions are coming thick and fast at JPMorgan, with a record $11 billion fine for mortgage-market abuses in late September drawing the most attention. But reports accompanying JPMorgan’s $920 million penalty for failures surrounding its $6.2 billion London Whale loss also shed new light on the distrust and paranoia within the bank.

Issuer ‘comes of age’; creates first euro benchmark.

Institutional lenders target long-dated loans; Borrowers diversify away from dependence on banks

S&P points to heightened operational risk; Nasdaq cushioned by diversification

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s European headquarters in Luxembourg City is a prime piece of real estate.

State approves $525 million capital raise; Move to longer-term, majority stakes