Barclays

American insurers Metropolitan Life and Athene Holding had a busy start to the year as they tapped the sterling, euro and dollar markets to issue a quartet of funding agreement backed (FAB) securities.

Indian borrowers re-entered the bond market on Monday, led by the Export-Import Bank of India which printed the country’s first dollar deal of 2021.

BMW set Europe's investment grade corporate bond market off to a flying start for the year on Monday, printing €1.5bn of debt at or inside fair value. A range of borrowers are said to be lining up trades in the German vehicle maker's slipstream.

Wessex Water, the Malaysian-owned UK utility, will become the first corporate borrower to hit the sterling bond market since the transition period for Brexit ended. Bankers expect a strong reception.

The European Investment Bank became the first borrower to tap the sterling market in 2021 on Monday, while KfW is set to follow on Tuesday. While the opening deal went well, the issuers had to contend with some sharp volatility.

Public sector borrowers wasted no time in getting back to business in the euro market in 2021 with one live deal and four mandates all hitting screens on Monday as issuers look to take advantage of an almost full trading week and a supportive market to make a dent in their brand new funding programmes.

ING kicked off the financials market in euros on Monday, as the Dutch bank looked to extend out its callable curve at a holding company level, and with minimal new issue premia on offer, a slew of deals is set to follow.

A senior equity capital markets banker has left Barclays after more than a decade at the UK bank.

The European Central Bank's various purchase programmes are set to continue shaping covered bond issuance next year, but away from the reach of the ECB, more niche markets are expected to flourish. Collected below is a selection of GlobalCapital’s covered bond outlooks for next year.

Trig, the London-listed renewable infrastructure investment firm, has signed a £500m loan with its margin linked to Sonia rather than Libor, as loans bankers try to encourage borrowers look at their loan documents soon to avoid bottlenecks next year.

Nobody will forget 2020 in a hurry. It was the year in which a coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, created economic chaos and forced central banks into swift action. The resulting measures helped to underpin financial markets, bringing yields from record highs in March to record lows in December. But the outlook has always remained uncertain for banks and insurance companies, whose balance sheets are yet to feel the full impact of the crisis. In such a testing year, GlobalCapital wanted to reward the bond deals that achieved stand-out results for issuers — in terms of pricing, execution and timing. The winners are presented here.

European banks passed a real-life stress test in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic threatened to topple the economy. The experience has improved the standing of subordinated debt, which is becoming more important for issuers and investors alike. Frank Jackman reports.