BNP Paribas

The pay gap between men and women working in the front office of investment banks is driven more by bonuses paid than the basic rate of pay, according to Emolument data. But some banks say that they are making strides in their efforts to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions.

American Honda, the American subsidiary of the Japanese auto company, made its first euro appearance in two years on Thursday, becoming the second auto company to tap the euro market for fixed and floating paper this week.

Two French borrowers took advantage of a resurgent corporate bond market on Wednesday, with electrical components manufacturer Schneider Electric and real estate company Icade selling euro debt.

UK energy company SSE opened up the week’s issuance for corporate bonds on Tuesday. While the issuer faced less than ideal market conditions its success presaged a rush of issuance later in the week.

BNP Paribas has walked away from a African sovereign bond mandate because of compliance issues. The bond, for Angola, is expected to have a size of at least $1bn.

Bankers are pointing to sovereigns from central Eastern Europe as the best hope for CEEMEA supply although much of the region is bound by the uncertainty of when the US will start to raise rates.

BNP Paribas has been forced to return another bond mandate in the emerging markets because of compliance issues.

Municipality Finance brought the first dollar benchmark since a big sell-off in Chinese equities on August 24 sparked volatility in global equity and credit markets, roiling issuance conditions for public sector borrowers in dollars.

Portugal attracted more than €5.5bn of demand for the first syndicated deal from a peripheral sovereign since mid-June on Wednesday.

Poland made sure CEEMEA was not left out of the September restart rush on Wednesday, but more traditional emerging markets are likely to be left sidelined until after the US Federal Reserve decides to raise interest rates, said debt bankers.

A eurozone agency is set to brave a dollar market that suffered volatility last week. And despite improved conditions, the issuer opted for a conservative maturity.

Portugal will become the first eurozone periphery sovereign to test the post-summer syndication market — but its choice of tenor has been limited by several weeks of turmoil in global markets.