Asia Pacific

French lender Natixis has poached two bankers from RBS to form a corporate advisory department for Asia Pacific.

A pair of North American financial names took advantage of strong demand for shorter dated floating rate Australian dollar paper this week.

Problems in Chinese and emerging market economies have become the biggest fear for credit investors for the rest of 2015, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s July Credit Investor Survey — having not featured at all as a concern in the bank’s May poll.

This year Chinese securitization has struggled to continue the momentum it showed at the end of 2014, failing to come close to the increased Rmb500bn ($82bn) quota from regulators. While there is more than one reason behind why issuance has been slow, market participants are still confident the budding asset class will come good by the end of the year.

Ever since China started its securitization market a decade ago, there has been a lot of talk about the vast potential for the product. And while it’s true that securitization has been developing strongly, the country’s true potential lies in the still mostly untapped residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) sector.

The Lion City has been trying to develop a covered bond market for years but progress has been slow. That's mostly been down to the fact that its banks do not have first access to most of the mortgage loans they lend out. That privilege lies with the country’s pension fund, the Central Provident Fund (CPF).

Singapore can finally lay claim to a covered bond market after its largest bank, DBS, this week printed the country’s first deal in the asset class. The build-up was hardly plain sailing, but that did not stop DBS executing a very successful trade that will serve as a benchmark for its peers, writes Rev Hui.

Power Finance Corp (PFC) defied gravity on July 27 when the Indian government pulled the trigger on its divestment of a 5% stake, raising the targeted Rp16bn ($250m) even after China worries sent markets tumbling.

Beijing Capital Juda last week priced its first bond, raising Rmb1.3bn ($209m) from an oversubscribed three year deal that saw investors eager to gobble up a dim sum trade.

Central China Securities Co wrapped up its HK$2.53bn ($327m) placement on July 24, allowing its shares to resume trading on July 27 after what had turned out to be a longer-than-usual bookbuilding process.

Chinese equities sent jaws dropping again this week after Shanghai posted its sharpest one-day plunge in eight years. While the market quickly picked itself up, equity capital market bankers believe this seesaw action is a huge incentive for mainland investors seeking a haven in Hong Kong, writes John Loh.

India kicked off its yearly divestment programme with a bang this month after it called for banks to pitch for a fresh round of stake sales. But foreign banks have given it the cold shoulder, with only Deutsche Bank showing up to bid. Bankers are split on whether the government’s new approach will help or hurt its divestment plans, as John Loh reports.