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If there's one thing to take from Europe's various capital market initiatives over 2015 – most notably, the Capital Markets Union – it's that the continent's financial infrastructure needs work. Europe's new single securities settlement platform, Target2-Securities (T2S), has been hailed as one of many solutions to that problem. A €1 billion ($1.5 billion) project run by the European Central Bank, T2S provides the post-trade IT system that underpins Europe's single capital market. And while its potential to boost efficiency and reduce costs shouldn't be underestimated, the project's first few months have been marred by technical issues and severe delays. "There's definitely questions over the complexity of the system," says Godfried de Vidts, chairman of the European Repo Council. "The amount of delays and teething problems so far is not surprising, and I think we can expect a lot more of that in the future."

An unlikely source of issuance in Europe's growing contingent convertible (CoCo) market in 2015 was Greece. And the next 12 months could lay the foundations for more.

Dawn raids are a gruelling experience, even for industry veterans. Thankfully, they are willing to share their tips on how to survive one

While 2015 was the year securitisation came back into fashion – at least in the eyes of the European Commission (EC) – 2016 could be the year that reality bites and regulatory disconnects hit home.

With the renminbi's (RMB) long-awaited inclusion in the IMF's basket of reserve currencies being announced on November 30, calls for greater clarity over rules governing foreign issuers accessing the onshore market is set to intensify.

The motives behind the European Commission's (EC) Prospectus Directive (PD) have never been questioned. The goals of reducing the costs and burden for companies producing prospectuses, and the headaches for investors wading through them, are faultless.

Frenetic, argumentative and growing a little too quickly. European high-yield has clearly been experiencing its teenage years. But in 2016 the market will find its feet. In addition to the first wave of restructures – and the valuable lessons that come with it – there will be more constructive dialogue between issuers and investors, and more diversified use of funds.

High-yield bondholders face a tumultuous 2016; counsel say – with certainty – that mass restructurings are on the horizon.

In 2016, for better or worse, LatAm's equity market activity will largely hinge on the stability of local currencies. And counsel are cautiously optimistic. The region is not known for a robust equity market, but according to Shearman & Sterling partner Antonia Stolper, last year was in a class of its own. "2015 was truly bad," she says. "We had the whole Fibra boom in Mexico in the last two years and other one offs in some other countries. But the pipeline is somewhat weak."

Securitisations as a whole might be marred by EU regulatory clashes, but commercial mortgage-backed deals (CMBS) are set to broaden their footprint across the continent. And their tranches will blur the boundary between loans and bonds.