The steady growth of the green bond market has accelerated during 2021 and is set for a further boost as the European Commission (EC) takes another step towards establishing standards for green bonds.

The long-awaited overhaul of the Solvency II regime moved a step closer this week when the European Commission published proposals it claims could release as much as €90bn of capital currently held by insurers.

The chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Sam Woods, has used his response to the recent Treasury Select Committee report on the future regulatory framework for UK financial services to reiterate its belief that the UK must not become a “rule-taker” following Brexit.

There are many reasons why the credit cycle will never look the same again as the Covid-19 pandemic has added new layers of central bank intervention on top of the legacy interventions from the global financial crisis.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have joined forces to challenge UK institutional investors to invest a greater proportion of their capital in long-term UK assets.

Normality has been re-defined by the pandemic and no-one is sure what the New Normal will look like as we rebuild our old world. Will all the pieces still fit? How will investment strategies have to evolve?