Barclays

A sombre set of second quarter earnings has done little to frighten credit investors away from European banks this month. Fund managers believe the sector is well capitalised enough to withstand any reasonable shock from Covid-19, putting subordinated bonds in an ideal position to rally into the end of the year, writes Tyler Davies.

Soaring demand and tight spreads lured repeat borrowers as summer dollar bond supply soared with $34bn of new issuance crammed into four days.

As investment bankers got used to working from home in the first half of the year, many more whistleblowing cases were opened by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. Meanwhile, challenges around monitoring staff and forging a bank’s internal culture have not gone away just because the workforce is outside of the office.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) broke the silence in the SSA market with a Canadian dollar sustainable development bond. The deal shared the market with a dollar trade from Kommuninvest, with both issuers steering clear of the almost dormant euro market.

Inter-American Development Bank will come to market for a Canadian dollar sustainable development bond on Thursday. The trade will share the market with a two year from Kommuninvest.

Redco Properties Group returned to the dollar market with a sub-one year bond on Tuesday, two weeks after using up its offshore issuance quota.

Chinese property developer Fantasia Holdings Group Co reopened a bond initially sold three years ago in a bid to lower its funding costs, taking $200m from the tap.

European banks will be subject to some of the Federal Reserve’s highest capital targets, after the US regulator switched to using stress test results as the main input for its requirements.

Barclays is building up sustainability coverage in its investment bank with new positions announced globally on Monday and effective immediately.

Investors have been more than happy to buy into new additional tier ones (AT1s) this year, with a rise in spreads having minimised the risk that deals could be extended beyond their first call dates.

Subordinated debt transactions in dollars from a trio of European banks left no doubts about the strength of the Yankee market this week. Bookrunners are encouraging issuers to execute trades in the asset class quickly, as they are unlikely to encounter better conditions before the end of this year, writes David Freitas.

A pair of German sub-sovereigns had the primary public sector bond market to themselves this week, with each taking €500m at tight levels to their secondary curves.