Banks

Metropolitan Housing Trust, the UK housing association, had a tough day in the sterling bond market on Wednesday, with a debut sustainable bond that limped over the line despite two days of marketing.

Barclays has elevated Jean Francois (JF) Astier and John Miller to co-heads of investment banking as part of a raft of promotions in New York that also include the appointments of Kristin Roth DeClark and Taylor Wright as global co-heads of capital markets.

Nordea said on Wednesday that it had received its final minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) last quarter. The Finnish firm is looking to put a greater emphasis on non-preferred senior debt, rebalancing regulatory resources away from equity and ordinary senior bonds.

Barclays has promoted from within to fill the role of head of investment banking for continental Europe that has been vacant since Carlo Calabria left earlier this year to concentrate on a special purpose acquisition company.

Reinout Böttcher is leaving UBS, where he was head of global banking for Switzerland, for a vice-chair role at JP Morgan in Zurich.

A leading shareholder in WuXi Biologics (Cayman) has pocketed HK$10.3bn ($1.3bn) after offloading a chunk of the company’s shares.

The Vietnam consumer finance subsidiary of Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group has become the latest firm to join a flurry of Vietnamese financial institutions in the loan market.

CMB International has hired Branson Song, a veteran equity capital markets banker, as head of its ECM business.

French investment grade corporate issuers Alstom and Covivio Hotels ignored growing worries over rising coronavirus infections on Tuesday to haul in bumper demand for new bonds.

The IPO of Terminal X Online Ltd, the Israeli fashion e-commerce company, is covered following less than a day of bookbuilding, according to a source close to the transaction.

The SSA bond market is playing host to three SRI labelled deals in euros this week, with no conventional debt slated for issuance at all so far.

The European Commission rounded off its pre-summer funding with a dual tranche outing this week. Despite the huge size raised, the execution was remarkably smooth, as is becoming a signature for the EU. But while the EU’s credentials as one of the top SSA issuers are beyond doubt, questions remain as to whether it is a supranational, or a quasi-sovereign issuer of eurozone safe assets.