Despite the progress of other projects applying blockchain technology to FX, Cobalt’s CEO remains confident that his post-trade processing network can reach critical mass.

The Barclays case may have saved the SFO, but the UK fraud agency needs to change the way it deals with whistleblowers.

With Brexit now upon us, as warnings abound of the damage it will inflict on the UK economy and the country’s financial sector, Euromoney follows its instincts and puts two British banks on our short list to be recognized as the world’s best.

UK councils are investing in commercial real estate in an attempt to plug their budget gaps, driven by cheap borrowing from central government. It could spell trouble for the sector.

It has been a year of catharsis for western Europe’s banking sector. Long-term problems in two of the continent’s biggest and most-fragmented banking markets – Germany and Italy – came to a head.

Barclays has reversed course on the regional structure it put in place last year, with new investment bank head Tim Throsby putting a global stamp on the business and also paving the way to complete its previous expansion effort.

The newly formed global FX committee will issue guidelines and maintain an index of registers, but they will be run by the private sector.

New set of 55 principles replaces regional codes with a single blueprint for good conduct in global FX market.

Takes control of markets unit; builds global structure for banking.

The UK has been one of the world’s key testing grounds for new financial technology thanks to London’s status as global financial centre and the UK authorities’ support for new competition to the incumbent banks they had to rescue in the crisis, but the big four banks’ central role as clearing banks has kept truly disruptive innovation away from the profitable core of retail banking, until now.

Best bank in the Middle East Emirates NBD Best investment bank in the Middle East HSBC Best digital bank in the Middle East Emirates NBD Best bank for financing in the Middle East Citi Best bank for advisory in the Middle East Barclays Best bank for markets in the Middle East National Bank of Abu Dhabi Best bank for transaction services in the Middle East Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Best bank for wealth management in the Middle East Audi Private Bank Best bank for CSR in the Middle East Arab African International Bank Best bank for SMEs Bank of Alexandria Best bank transformation Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait Outstanding contribution to financial services Hisham Ezz Al Arab . Country Awards for Excellence 2016: Middle East Awards for Excellence Middle East press release

With extended opportunities for UK investors in China through programmes such as the RQFII scheme, China Construction Bank opened its doors this week to London-based investors, signalling the strength of the Sino-UK relationship.

The UK Treasury’s courtship of Chinese banks highlights, in part, London’s relatively flexible regulatory regime for foreign banks – in contrast to the Fed. It also opens up a broader debate about subsidiarization and global banking models, more generally, amid regulatory turf wars.

It wasn't just the Singapore futures operation that was badly managed. The lack of controls that allowed Nick Leeson to lose $1.4 billion was symptomatic of the lousy way Barings was run throughout Asia. The culture clash between the traders of Baring Securities and the merchant bankers of Baring Brothers meant that most executives cared more about protecting their own departments than about making the group work.

Institutional investors say the market has been rigged in the final offering of British Telecom shares. Warburg may find its efforts to please one client – the Treasury – damage relations with everybody else.

Big Bang has not been kind to British banks. Midland and Lloyds have their troubles. Hill Samuel failed to merge with UBS; Morgan Grenfell may be looking for a buyer. Yet the SG Warburg Group has emerged from Big Bang with a cohesion and profitability that is the envy of its merchant banking rivals – the flagship of the UK securities industry. But how? And whither Warburg now?

What do the Euromoney markets look like from the other side? Here Mr Clements, deputy treasurer of ICI, explains first how the group fits fund raising on the international markets into its financing activities. He goes on to outline the market’s importance to ICI, both now and in the future, and then to talk more specifically about the advantages and disadvantages of the market from the borrower's point of view.