The Japanese bank sees Greenhill as the missing M&A piece in its US product offering. Asiamoney speaks to the New York-based CEO of Mizuho Securities US operations Jerry Rizzieri, and US head of investment and corporate banking, Michal Katz, about the bank’s ambitions.

Don’t expect a flood of IPOs, but there are still placements across Asia Pacific.

Yet another multi-billion-dollar loss on investments in SoftBank’s Vision Funds speaks to a malaise that is hurting the tech teams of investment banks in Asia.

The southern Chinese city has set out ambitious plans to become one of the world’s top wealth-management centres. With one of China’s largest onshore pools of private wealth, there is everything to play for.

The Korean government and the central bank will have their work cut out for them in 2023. They must overcome a loss of trust and criticisms over raising rates too quickly if they want to keep the economy humming and avoid a new crisis.

South Korea must do more to address diversity in the workplace. A few of the country’s banks are leading by example.

CTBC Bank is quietly making inroads in its quest to be a regional banking powerhouse, through strategic acquisitions and big international expansion plans.

Hong Kong’s tough line on Spacs is intended to protect investors and stop low-calibre companies from getting a listing via the backdoor. With just two Spac IPOs so far in the city, the asset class has struggled to attract the kind of enthusiasm seen in other markets such as the US.

The Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US dollar – and the question of its survival – is once again a hot topic. But this time, the stakes are higher than ever before.

The combination of China’s crackdown on technology companies, its zero-Covid strategy and its domestic property crisis have buffeted Chinese stocks this year. In order for sentiment to stabilize and for the economy to develop, reforms are needed urgently, putting more emphasis on the private sector and less on GDP growth.

Within two years, virtual bank WeLab has quickly found its place in Hong Kong. But its chief executive says this is just the beginning of an ambitious plan to expand its foothold in Asia.

The outlook for the Chinese real estate sector is bleak, with many more highly indebted companies expected to default on their bonds and loans. If the market is to recover, however, the government will need to ease more restrictions so that firms can access funding again and demand for homes picks up.

With its razor-sharp focus on SMEs, technology firms and ESG, Busan Bank has come a long way in the last 50 years, and is moving in the right direction.

Sprawling conglomerates dominate South Korea’s economy, making it hard to retool a creaking economic model. With a presidential election looming and financial technology firms growing, the market is ripe for disruption.

MUFG Bank is investing in its Greater China business, but will its strategy pay off?

Two critical developments in China caught the financial markets off guard in 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic has unearthed a wave of anti-China sentiment across the world, impacting Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Will BRI have a future in a post-pandemic world? A veteran banker at HSBC says yes – but the shape it takes will be vastly different.

In a novel twist to digital banking, Taiwan’s FEIB is leveraging the wide reach of social media networks to turn clients into bankers and branch managers.