The UK sterling market has enjoyed a stellar 2014, with RBS playing a leading role in the surge with a series of innovative issuances that have proven popular both within and outside of the UK.

Investors are willing to diversify into African corporate debt, despite emerging market volatility, as was proved by Goldman Sachs' $400m Tier 2 transaction for Access Bank.

The first Italian initial public offering of 2014 cemented confidence in UniCredit's unusual partnership model with Kepler Cheuvreux in equity capital markets.

With renewed appetite for European IPOs, UBS's business service team has a busy pipeline of deals. It started the year well, with a mandate from ISS, which has a history of aborted sales, but which UBS secured a solid buyer base for.

When fears over a Chinese slowdown and the US interest rate cycle coupled with domestic political uncertainty to hit the Turkish lira, BNP Paribas proposed a long-term bond to re-establish the sovereign's credentials.

Tighter secondary market liquidity and more volatile interest rates make for a more challenging environment for the highest-rated issuers, but that has not stopped Deutsche Bank from leading two milestone deals already in 2014.

Société Générale CIB arranged a record large loan for PPF Group to buy out Telefonica's Czech subsidiary, and found plentiful liquidity in local currency.

The volume of carbon trading has fallen heavily since the 2009 Copenhagen agreement, and market participants are advocating radical steps to revive the market.

Credit-enhanced project bonds have taken time to reach the market, but a debut UK deal arranged by HSBC could set a useful precedent for financing offshore power transmission infrastructure.