The GlobalCapital Podcast

◆ Supranationals speak on callable capital 
◆ Bank funding: pricing reset 
◆ The demise of the cornerstone investor

As the great and the good of the development finance world gathered in Washington, DC for the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, multilateral development banks published details about their callable capital, the next vital step along the way to powering up their lending to solve some of the planet's...

◆ Why everyone from nuns to pro-coal US state treasurers are giving banks stick over ESG 
◆ El Salvador's punchy new debt structure 
◆ Appetite for duration in covered bonds

West Virginia: almost heaven unless you're on state treasurer Riley Moore's list of banks the state won't do business with over fossil fuel financing. But unlike most ESG-related exclusions, in this case opprobrium is reserv...

◆ Do investors want unified capital markets coverage?
◆ Corporates fear democracy
◆ Why are FRNs trending?
◆ Second lien mortgages in arrears ― yes please

Banks’ urge to cut costs in debt capital markets, especially syndicate desks, is prompting some to call for the ‘global capital markets’ model: one team for equity and all kinds of debt.

They argue this could heal banks’ disjointed thinking and allay investors’ frust...

In the second part of GlobalCapital’s exploration of how bond syndicate desks are changing, after a swathe of the discipline’s senior bankers have been made redundant, we discuss the syndicate job itself.

Technology and market transparency have stripped away some of the grunt work, but also made knowledge easier to come by. Are banks thinking they don’t need so much experience on desks?

Bankers admit pricing bonds has often...

◆ MUFG's Del Canto and SG's Menzies on what comes next for capital markets
◆ The juniorisation of syndicate desks
◆ Two deals pulled despite fantastic markets

It was only a few months ago that GlobalCapital asked more than 50 of the bond markets' most senior bankers where they thought the primary markets were headed in 2024 for our Review 2023|Outlook 2024 special report. This week, two of them joi...

◆ The UK is about to embark upon a new, higher funding remit with a key part of its investor base dwindling 
◆ Why the FIG bond market is so strong and why it will stay that way 
◆ If investors are still leaving EM bond funds, who is buying record amounts of issuance?

The UK plans to sell £28bn more Gilts from April — the start of its financial year — than last year, at £265.3bn. As a bond issuer, it has been able ...

◆ Basel gets tough on banks gaming ratio regs 
◆ Fast fashion ESG dilemma for London 
◆ What drove Israel's record dollar deal

The Basel Committee that supervises banks has unearthed evidence that some of the most important banks are window dressing their accounts to meet regulatory requirements. We discuss the illusions being created and what the supervisors plan to do about it.

In the equity markets...

◆ The consequences of sovereign retail bonds 
◆ Asset managers alter covered bond landscape 
◆ Ramadan drives Gulf deal surge  
◆ One word: plastics

As the UK took a step towards including greater retail investor participation in its Gilt auctions, we looked at recent developments among it peers in doing the same and assess the pros and cons of democratising debt markets.

Asset managers are pouring into cov...

◆ Markets plead for regs pause 
◆ Barclays' new strategy 
◆ Middle East ECM to take it up a gear

On the one hand, the EU wants a Capital Markets Union that will make the bloc a single pool for financing to compete with the US or China. On the other its lust for rules has created an incoherent mess of red tape, choking off any chance of CMU happening.

Now, trade bodies are pleading with the European Commission t...

◆ Kenya deal ducks default but two more countries in crosshairs 
◆ Transition finance after historic Japanese bond sale 
◆ How the IPO revival is a boon for the loan market

Kenya may have averted fears of default by raising fresh money this week but already investors are working their way down the list of African sovereigns with troubling debt piles. Tunisia and Egypt are next on their list, leading us to look at e...

◆ Primary market for banks flying but will property burst the bubble? 
◆ Japan to debut transition bond as SLLs fall out of favour 
◆ Kenya back in bond market

The bond market for bank issuers goes from strength to strength. Any trade seems possible in any format and new issue premiums are rarer than hen's teeth. But is a sharp dose of reality coming in the form of exposure to bad real estate loans?

We also dis...

◆ The first of a new asset class in SSA debt 
◆ Full inspection of AfDB's landmark deal 
◆ A power shift in the European CLO market

Years in the making, the first publicly sold hybrid deal from a multilateral development bank arrived this week. The African Development Bank's latest instrument heralds not just the dawn of a new product in the bond market but, as other MDBs bring their own deals, will lead ...

◆ Are lawsuits about funding polluters the next big risk for banks? 
◆ Sub-Saharan Africa issuance returns... 
◆ ... but will any follow Ivory Coast's lead?

The Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth is suing ING over its roll in financing pollution. It is the latest in what may become a wild spread of lawsuits brought against banks  — and governments and corporates, for that matter — as environmental bodies see...

◆ Records smashed in primary markets but what's driving it? 
◆ Why order books are so swollen 
◆ Rampant demand but companies want to cut hybrid debt

Issuers and investors may agree that this is not a perfect market by any means, but that is not stopping them from getting deals done while they can.

Investors are piling into asset classes that they haven't bought for some time and issuers are happy to take ...

Amid all the records being smashed across primary bond markets this week, one could be forgiven for missing what has been happening in the sterling bond market. But fear not; we were all over it. 

From remarkable debut deals from corporate issuers to a change in how public sector borrowers approach sterling bond issuance in what is a very busy time for the market, we discuss in-depth what has been going on, what is driving it and wh...

◆ SSAs throw etiquette out of the window in rapid start to year 
◆ Banks blind-sided by sudden correction 
◆ Mixed fortunes for corporate issuers

The first few days and weeks of January have always been a critical time for capital markets issuers but perhaps this year more than ever. 

As interest rates have risen and central banks have withdrawn support for the bond markets, so issuers have come to rely more upon th...

◆ What the most senior debt bankers in the world are worrying about for next year 
◆ Who's eating Credit Suisse 
◆ If a property company falls in the forest and doesn't make a sound...

One of the very biggest investment banking stories this year was the collapse of Credit Suisse. But its rescue by UBS and what the rest of the Street makes of the demise of its rival is a story that will play out into 2024 ...

◆ Latin America’s bond markets at an (interest rate) inflection point
◆ Who’d be a primary dealer?
◆ What price briiiiidge loans?

As GlobalCapital launches the poll for our first dedicated Latin America Bond Awards, our podcast takes a deep dive into the region’s troubled capital markets, with special guest Omotunde Lawal, head of emerging markets corporate debt at Barings.

There may not be many deals in the marke...

◆ German court ruling may hit Bund issuance in 2024
◆ KfW and Länder funding may also be affected
◆ Banks and borrowers shrink loan syndicates

The German constitutional court has rocked the country's public sector borrowers just as they finalise their funding needs for 2024.

We look at how the new multi-billion euro-sized hole in the government's budget that is the result of the ruling will affec...