Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Nick Darrant, JP Morgan's head of CEEMEA debt capital markets syndicate, is leaving the bank after five years to join Citigroup as co-head of EMEA syndicate.

İşbank, Turkey's largest private bank by assets, is the latest financial institution from the country to refinance its existing debt, while managing to maintain competitive margins.

After a week of speculation over which central banks would provide Turkey with a currency swap line, its central bank has announced an increase to an existing arrangement.

LHV Pank has mandated leads for its inaugural deal and the second ever to be launched under the newly established Estonian covered bond legal framework.

Turkey’s Garanti Bank has raised a $592.4m-equivalent ESG-linked syndicated loan — the first of its kind signed by a bank. The deal, despite being launched at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, went successfully, according to bankers, following a string of refinancings by other Turkish banks.

Yapi Kredi is the latest Turkish bank to refinance existing debt, following peers like Akbank and VakifBank. But bankers said that margins on its deal do not reflect current market conditions.

Emerging market borrowers are turning their noses up at the terms on offer in the loan market, which have become dearer during the coronavirus pandemic. Lenders say they are willing and ready to lend, but are not ready to concede on their terms, writes Mariam Meskin.

Ukraine’s politicians have finally passed a banking law that will put the country in line for a support package from the International Monetary Fund.

Turkey has stood out among emerging market countries for its rapid-fire approach to monetary policy, as it attempts to turbo-charge growth amid the coronavirus pandemic. But with sustained downward pressure on the lira, few foreign investors are willing to buy in. The crisis is also causing a hedging conundrum.

The Republic of Serbia hit euro markets on Monday as it worked to stack up funding for its fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus, selling a seven year bond.

Estonia’s LHV Pank is set to become the second bank in the country to take advantage of the country’s covered bond law and, having set up a programme and gained central bank authority to issue, Moody’s this week assigned a rating to its programme.

Russian borrowers are still seeking funds from international lenders, with a handful of companies in the market. However, dynamics have changed amid the spread of the coronavirus and borrowers must offer higher margins to fewer lenders.