A need for greater investment in airports, ports, roads and railways has prompted world leaders to develop attractive schemes to encourage private funding.

Leading investors and lawyers warn that the UK risks diluting its influence in Europe, threatening its trade and the financial industry, after UK prime minister David Cameron’s landmark speech that pledged a referendum on the country’s future in the EU.

An explosion is underway in the number and type of mobile payments around the world, according to research. Simon Newstead, Managing Director of Market and Business Strategy at RBS, says it's vital that businesses react to this trend, but they should carefully consider all the options.

Is regulation bad for payments innovation, draining company resources that could otherwise be used to develop the next big idea? Not necessarily, says Simon Newstead, Managing Director of Market and Business Strategy at RBS. With payments, it can help drive new thinking and improve efficiency – the key is flexibility.

Brazil and Australia are among countries where companies are a step closer to settling trade with China using the Chinese renminbi (RMB), after a deal between the South Korea and Chinese central banks set the precedent for activating a bilateral swap line. Woon Khien Chia, RBS Head of Local Markets Strategy Emerging Asia, looks at the implications.

As the era of ultra-loose monetary policy and expansive quantitative easing enters its third year, government and investment-grade corporate bond yields have fallen to all-time lows, prompting the Bank for International Settlements to warn market participants that fixed-income assets now look perilously overvalued.

Mobile banking in Africa is snapping on the heels of traditional payment mechanisms. Nevertheless, there are growing opportunities for banks but questions remain over the regulatory and economic impact of the cell phone revolution.

As European regulators renew their focus on the legal ring-fence between retail and wholesale activities, the universal-banking model needs to adapt to new regulatory and market pressures.

Italy, Portugal and Spain could face economic downturns as severe as that of Greece within a year as the combination of austerity and recession exacerbate Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, Peter Bofinger, economist and member of the German Council of Economic Experts, told RBS.

The German economy is likely to shrink in the fourth quarter of this year and into 2013 as demand for its exports from struggling eurozone countries drops, Peter Bofinger, economist and member of the German Council of Economic Exports, told RBS.

It could take more than a decade before Europe fully emerges from the financial crisis, experienced central banker Nout Wellink told RBS.

Britain should launch a diplomatic charm offensive in Europe’s capitals to protect its financial services sector from possible regulatory changes inside the European Union, former City Minister Paul Myners has said.

China will dominate world trade by 2030. But its relationships are changing. Anand Pande, global head of trade product management and head of transaction services product for Asia Pacific at RBS, examines the developing landscape and the implications for transaction banking and multinational companies.

The next Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, should consider moving the Bank out of its Threadneedle Street headquarters in a major cultural shakeup at the 318 year-old lender, former City Minister Paul Myners has said.

Former monetary policy official Yu Yongding calls on the Chinese government to turbo-charge its economic reform agenda, including financial market liberalization, in order to nurture a consumption-led economy.

The renminbi will become as integral to global trade as letters of credit or the container ship. Companies need to think carefully on how to blend daily RMB usage into their existing supply chains as Beijing begins to remove bureaucratic FX hurdles.

Xi Jinping and China’s other new leaders take charge of a slowing economy and an increasingly vocal populace demanding cleaner government, better welfare and more affordable housing. Only modest progress has been made at shifting the economy from an investment-led, industrial model to one driven more by consumers and the services sector. Yet Louis Kuijs, Chief China Economist at RBS says investors expecting the incoming administration to respond with rapid reforms or a major fiscal stimulus are likely to be disappointed.

Low interest rates, central bank interventions and intra-day market volatility have challenged traditional foreign exchange trading strategies in recent years. In 2012, smart investors embarked on new trading strategies to find pockets of value.

Despite the country’s strong fundamentals and celebrated growth rates in recent years, the economy lost some of its shine in 2012. The government must get over its obsession with the real and concentrate on beefing up productivity and trade, say analysts.

The economy continues to defy the doom-mongers, but to nurture a sustainable and domestic-led growth model China’s new leadership must embark on painful, destabilizing and controversial reforms.

As the US moves toward mandatory over-the-counter trading on swap execution facilities this year, European derivatives dealers are still waiting for European authorities to clarify the regulatory pipeline as fears over market liquidity grow.

International money is flying into emerging market sovereign bond markets with frontier credits, such as Zambia, Mongolia and Bolivia, now boasting low yields. The jury is out on whether there is a bubble brewing in developing bond markets in hard currency.

Fiscal risks in the US, the depreciation of the yen and growth in emerging Asia – opening up more carry trade opportunities – are reasons to believe volatility could return to the foreign exchange market in 2013 after a long hiatus, investors say.

Why has an unprecedented deluge of monetary stimulus since the global financial crisis failed to spark an economic revival in the developed world? One reason could be the inability of debt-soaked economies to further expand private sector borrowing – a key ingredient for growth. But are emerging markets better equipped to maintain the pace of credit expansion?

Investment-grade companies are enjoying an unprecedented era of attractive funding as investors scramble for a decent return in a shrinking universe of safe havens. But, says Myles Clarke, Co-Head of Global Syndicate at RBS, such firms must still be careful or the volatile economic climate could jeopardise an issuance.

Foreign exchange markets are slowly returning to their pre-crisis state, four years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Although difficulties remain because of market jitters and uncertainty over central bank action, Tim Carrington, Global Head of FX at RBS, explains how investors can benefit.

The internationalisation of the renminbi (RMB) may be at an early stage, but the Chinese currency’s role in global trade is set to expand. Sherie Morais says companies need to start thinking now about how they can prepare for and benefit from doing business in RMB.

New research shows a direct link between non-cash payments and economic growth. With greater consistency coming to how such payments are handled worldwide, Simon Newstead says businesses should be ready to take advantage.

While European Union proposals to limit the time corporates have to make payments in commercial transactions will bring relief to some suppliers, many buyers will face higher debt and lower liquidity. Supply chain finance could be a practical and effective solution to managing working capital efficiently under the EU payments directive, says RBS’s Ugur Bitiren.

New rules changing the amount of capital banks must hold to transact derivatives are likely to affect pension funds in Europe. The good news is the effect is likely to be limited if funds work with their bank counterparties to optimise their positions say Sinead Leahy and Sian Hurrell.