Banks

A €200m bond add-on for UK-based car maker Jaguar Land Rover, announced on Tuesday, follows €800m of unsecured notes issued in mid-November. Jaguar was drawn to a balmy post-election market that rewarded it with favourable pricing and encouraged it to increase the deal.

The Bank of England said it will increase the countercyclical buffer by 100bp for UK banks after disclosing the results of its latest stress test this week. As the sector performed well in the test, the new capital requirements are being interpreted as a ‘Brexit buffer’ to help institutions withstand the risk of economic turmoil at the end of 2020.

The US financial regulator has permanently barred former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner from the securities industry, for his role in the 1MDB scandal.

Rising defaults by Chinese firms onshore have triggered sell-offs in numerous parts of the dollar bond market over the past few weeks. But international investors appear too complacent about the health of some of the largest debt issuers from the mainland. More scepticism is needed.

John Lee will become sole head of Greater China global banking at UBS next year, after co-head Xuewen Bi steps down from his day-to-day managerial job.

DBS has hired two bankers to join its syndicated finance team in Singapore.

Multiplex cinema chain Cineworld is betting on rapid expansion as it pours more billions into another North American acquisition. Cineworld, which is among the most shorted companies in the UK, plans to acquire Canadian competitor Cineplex in a $2.1bn deal financed by debt. This plan comes nine months after it made a $3.6bn acquisition in the US.

Power company Electricité de France has agreed to buy back almost €1.2bn-equivalent of its hybrid capital bonds, marking the end of a busy period for the company in the debt markets.

The Dutch government is looking to resume selling shares in ABN Amro, the bank that was rescued during the financial crisis, as part of its programme for fiscal stability.

Royal Dutch Shell is considering releasing the detailed technical terms it has used on its $10bn revolving credit facility linked to the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (Sofr), to help the market with the transition to new interest rate benchmarks.

Spreads in the financial institutions bond market have tightened as investors pack their bags for the Christmas holiday period, but bankers warn that this does not necessarily reflect how conditions will look in the new year.

The covered bond market will enter 2020 on the front foot, supported by a wave of favourable forces such as the European Central Bank’s Asset Purchase Programme and low interest rates.