Australia

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has created a new debt solutions unit in Asia Pacific and has named two bankers to run it.

Volatility and changing demand have forced issuers to change their style of issuance in the Kangaroo market, printing smaller deals to demand rather than benchmarks. But the market has not stopped providing valuable opportunities for duration and arbitrage. By Lewis McLellan.

QBE Insurance was nearly eight times overs subscribed for a new tier two bond on Wednesday, as the Australian firm shrugged off recent volatility to build towards its regulatory capital requirements.

Covered bond volumes were higher this week than last even as mounting fears of a UK decision to leave the European Union lead to greater volatility and increased execution risk.

The Australian lender priced an A$500m five year floating rate covered bond on Wednesday on an oversubscribed order book. Though it was unable to tighten pricing, the final spread was in line with the last five year A$ benchmark issued by CIBC.

QBE Insurance was nearly eight times overs subscribed for a new tier two bond on Wednesday, as the Australian firm shrugged off recent volatility to build towards its regulatory capital requirements.

ANZ became the first Australian bank to launch a foreign currency additional tier one (AT1) on Tuesday with a dollar trade, and could target yield hungry Asian accounts to bolster its books.

After five months of silence, corporate issuers have returned to the Kangaroo bond market as pent up demand provides a ready home for paper.

The position of treasurer at the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) has changed hands after eight years.

The former head of structured finance, commercial real estate and corporate advisory at Hang Seng Bank has resurfaced at First Gulf Bank.

Biostime International Holdings has begun syndication on a refinancing of a $450m bridge loan taken last year to fund its A$1.386bn ($995m) acquisition of a controlling stake in Swisse Wellness.

ANZ has appointed Michelle Jablko as its new chief financial officer, giving her responsibility over all aspects of finance and treasury, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations at the bank.