Greater use of secured funding, depositor preference and bail-in regimes mean that bank failures and defaults on unsecured bank debt are likely to converge, while recoveries fall.

After performing admirably in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the growth of Lebanon's banks dramatically slowed. The Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and north Africa last year further unsettled the country's financial sector, but, as leading figures from its banks explain, there is still a great deal of room for optimism.

Good things come in small packages, particularly when it comes to cashing out of private equity buyouts made before the financial crisis.

While some of the largest initial public offerings have attracted the wrong kind of headlines recently, investors can find value among genuine US growth companies but the UK is struggling to match this success.

Emergency capital raisings are over, conditions for new listings are still unattractive and equity capital markets divisions are under pressure.