Europe

Zurich Insurance Company looked to raise funding on Wednesday with a long-dated senior bond, taking advantage of less volatility as the market waited for news about the Brexit negotiations.

ADO Properties has been downgraded by Moody’s while marketing a Schuldschein transaction, forcing the lead arrangers to issue “substantial repricings”, according to a Schuldschein player familiar with the deal.

CaixaBank proved popular this week on its return to the non-preferred senior bond market, raising €1bn and welcoming more than two times as many orders.

Turkey passed its first test of investor sentiment on Tuesday night, returning to international capital markets with a $2bn five year deal after an absence of six months while the country had a brush with economic and diplomatic chaos.

Equity investors are looking more closely at valuations after a brutal sell-off last week left many funds questioning where to allocate capital during a changing cycle.

FIG investors have become more wary about committing cash in the primary market, with outflows and negative year-to-date returns driving sentiment in the sector.

Turkey made a successful return to international markets on Tuesday after six months away. The sovereign paid up for the privilege, but took an important step in returning financing conditions in the country to normal.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday that the financial services industry positively received its plans to automate regulatory reporting requirements in the main.

Secondary spreads in corporate bonds have widened in October, somewhat in line with the sell-off in all global markets. US credit spreads have suffered more than European, but some investors don’t see the move as material, for now.

Some traditional investors in European high yield bonds are showing growing interest in lower rated paper. But a closer look at market dynamics suggests that, rather than just newfound risk appetite, the presence of occasional buyers in the market may also be pushing them down the ratings ladder.

The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is now in charge of the country’s policy on climate change, has hired a Bank of England official on secondment for a key role shaping green finance policy.

CYBG’s move to an internal ratings based (IRB) approach highlights how the UK’s largest lenders enjoy a substantial competitive benefit over the challengers.