The European Central Bank must focus on raising inflation to a target of almost 2% because an ongoing shortfall risks damaging the economy, board member Fabio Panetta says. A slow response might have already prevented growth, and further delays "would make it more difficult to re-anchor inflation expectations, and we would risk a permanent reduction of economic potential", Panetta says.

Global bond funds experienced inflows of $20.85 billion last week, the largest amount in nine weeks. A rally in US bond yields eased as traders acknowledged a Federal Reserve policy change was further away than the timeline they had thought.

A cross-party group of members of the UK Parliament and business executives have formed a commission to press for a better EU trade deal, after an earlier Brexit committee failed to make headway.

Deutsche Bank is adding talent to handle an expected boom in special-purpose acquisition companies in Europe. The bank is recruiting junior and midlevel bankers to arrange financing for SPACs.

Citigroup is expanding coronavirus testing to ensure the safety of workers returning to the bank's London headquarters, sources say. A thrice-weekly test reportedly is mandatory for employees working at the office.

Bitcoin is a "speculative asset without any recognisable fundamental value", and trust in cryptocurrencies could "rapidly evaporate", disrupting financial markets, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel says. The ECB aims to create a digital currency, but a "great deal of preparatory work needs to be done to enable the project to be properly set up", Schnabel says.

Cboe Global Markets plans to offer trading that is open nearly 24 hours a day for some index options, starting in the fourth quarter. The plan, subject to regulatory review, applies to options on the Cboe Volatility Index and the S&P 500.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commissions is modifying rules governing cross-border swaps trading to avoid market disruption after Brexit. Changes for transaction-level rules for certain swaps and rules on determining comparability are effective immediately.

More than 100 Chinese technology startups have dropped applications to list on Shanghai's Star Market and Shenzhen's ChiNext since Ant Financial scrapped an initial public offering in November. Some firms are considering going public in Hong Kong.

Derivatives transparency rules set out in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act could have helped regulators anticipate the fallout at Archegos Capital Management, experts say. These particular rules fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission's jurisdiction and have been repeatedly delayed.