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Among all the many new online marketplaces for trading, issuing and offering research on bonds, none is as ambitious in its scope as BondBook, the alternative trading system launched this summer by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney, which Deutsche Bank also joined in September, as a founding equity partner.

When it comes to floating state-owned enterprises, the Chinese authorities have learnt fast. More discriminating in what they offer to the market, they have also recognized that pricing is crucial and that investors are attracted by big issues because of the liquidity they provide. For their part, western banks leading issues have learnt - sometimes the hard way - that the Chinese are increasingly choosy about who they work with. That doesn't make bankers any the less determined to establish a presence in a massive market that is at last beginning to restructure.

It's hard to imagine a worse news flow for markets. As I write, the US is without a winner in the presidential elections. The lawyers argue in the courts about whether various counties in Florida can conduct manual recounts. And people spend their time giving opinions on chads - those little round bits of paper hanging by a thread from the punch hole on a Florida ballot paper.

A walk around Chicago can be a rewarding experience. It has its skyscrapers like most other US cities, including the tallest, the Sears Tower. But it also has stunning main shopping streets and there's a deceptive and disarmingly quiet pace to life in the Loop, the main financial district. Then there's the city's reputation as the home of blues music, and its overall location on the shores of Lake Michigan. All this gives the city a more balanced air than the bustling, cramped streets of Manhattan.

Few in the financial sector would doubt the benefits of having an independent central bank, where governors are free from interference or threats and responsible for targeting inflation, controlling money supply and interest rates and supervising the sector, without needing to heed advice from political masters.

A three-way merger has created Mizuho, Japan’s and the world’s biggest bank by assets. If the deal works – and legal issues will postpone full integration for some time – the new leviathan may be a powerhouse. But is management up to the task? And will Japan’s notoriously difficult market let them do what they want?

Although initial international trades have been struck, the financing of commodity trade online is not as easy as many first thought. The requirements of commodity importers and exporters are complex and financiers must come to terms with the logistics that are an essential part of the commodity trade chain. Jonathan Bell, editor of Euromoney’s sister publication Trade Finance, examines the issues

The panic’s over. We can all go back to normal. We’ve got it all under control. That’s the message now coming from the investment banking world as we wind down for Christmas.

A major priority for the UK's Financial Services Authority is developing a suitable regulatory stance in e-commerce and internet delivery of financial services. Its approach rests on judgements about the potential risks from e-developments to its statutory objectives – market confidence, consumer protection, public understanding and reduction of financial crime – and working out strategies to mitigate and minimize risks. By Lydia Bailey and Crispian Lord

Turning money and small-value payments into digital form doesn’t interest the banks – it’s against their interests and too expensive. Into the vacuum have stepped hundreds of payment schemes, many of them claiming they have found the Holy Grail. These boasts are premature. Some ideas are elegant but don’t have critical mass. Worse still, they rely on those indifferent beasts, the banks. Find your way through the Darwinian jungle with the help of David Shirreff

Hong Kong is undergoing a seismic cultural shift with the introduction of its compulsory savings scheme, the Mandatory Provident Fund. Its arrival will boost the local fund management industry through a consistent inflow of funds which employers and workers are legally obliged to maintain. Other Asian countries, most notably China, are scrutinizing its implementation to see what aspect of the Hong Kong model they can adopt. Julian Marshall reports

Issuer: Government of Malaysia Amount: €650m Type of issue: Eurobond Date of issue: November 16