Switzerland’s second largest bank had to react quickly with an innovative convertible offering after the country’s central bank demanded an increase in its capital base.

Thanks to shale drilling, the US is brimming with cheap gas and has turned itself into one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers. Most analysts now expect it to be all but energy independent within 15 years, shattering mainstream assumptions from as recently as five years ago. The implications for global energy markets and geopolitics are profound. 

Oil and gas multinational BG Group has a strong credit record, but it was still a brave decision to launch an unusual structure just after the Greek elections with an extra tranche added to target Asian private bank clients.

After leading Morgan Stanley’s equities business outside the Americas, John Hyman is working to position Renaissance Capital as a focused player in a number of very different markets across emerging Europe and Africa.

A diversified payment rights securitisation for ZAO Raiffeisenbank reopened this important source of funding in Russia for the first time since the financial crisis, but joint lead manager WestLB will not be around to manage follow-up deals.

The battle to persuade customers to ditch their traditional wallets in favour of a digitised version on their mobile phone has stepped up a notch in the past few months, with big technology and internet companies threatening the territory of the more familiar payment brands. Jane Cooper looks at who is making the early running in this war of the wallets. 

A stagnant home market and declining prospects in western Europe have encouraged Swiss wealth managers to expand in emerging markets. But the strategy for success is not always straightforward, and now a number of regional players have come to the fore looking to challenge Swiss dominance in this field.