Europe

Covered bonds will continue to be a crucial instrument in any bank treasurer’s funding tool kit in 2017. However, the more necessary focus will be on bail-inable senior unsecured funding. Bill Thornhill reports.

New issue bonds have been going from strength to strength, with some of the largest ever issues priced in the last two years. But the way they are executed has hardly changed for years. That is, until 2016, when sweeping regulatory change arrived in the form of new market abuse rules, along with new technology platforms and new market guidelines. Owen Sanderson reports.

The global rise in dollar funding, combined with political upheaval and the heavy depreciation of the lira are destroying some of the historically borrower-friendly terms available in the Turkish loan market. Elly Whittaker reports.

The UK’s decision to leave the European Union cast extreme uncertainty over the economy, the values and even the unity of the country. Its ramifications for domestic companies’ financing capabilities has been both more obvious and more benign, however. Max Bower reports.

Will 2017 be a year for new conquests in the European leveraged finance markets? No one believes so. Rather, there will be a tug of war between high yield bonds and loans for issuance, better funding costs and investors’ cash. Victor Jimenez and Max Bower report.

The European Central Bank will be a focal point for the euro investment grade corporate bond market this year but the Corporate Sector Purchase Programme party is over. In a world of rising US interest rates and political risk, participants are wondering how to avoid a hangover when the ECB eventually leaves their market. Ross Lancaster reports.

Equity investors have something new to believe in: fiscal largesse in the US kickstarting global growth. That’s good news for the many companies and banks with capital to raise in 2017 — the trouble is, markets are likely to be as volatile as Donald Trump’s temper. By Jon Hay, additional reporting by Aidan Gregory

The one-way bet on spreads that has made investors rich in the European corporate bond market over the last year will be replaced by trickier but potentially more lucrative gambles in the financial, high yield and hybrid sectors. Ross Lancaster reports.

Europe’s convertible market is no longer dripping with superlatives as 2017 begins — middling performance and mild outflows have taken out some of the heat. That may be a good thing, as investors may get more of the deals they like: for companies whose credit needs some looking at, but with interesting equity stories. Aidan Gregory and Jon Hay report.

On the surface, equity capital markets are a well-oiled machine, built to run over the rocky ground of unpredictable stockmarkets. Beneath the surface, there is a lot of sweat. Banks are having to staff their teams with less money, but do just as many deals. Investors are under the cosh, too, squeezed by weak performance and the march of passive funds. Jon Hay reports.

Once upon a time the worst thing investors had to think about at new year was what surprises the Fed might spring. Now there’s a maverick US president who talks of picking fights with China, allies, you name it. The UK is leaving the EU, the far right might win power in France and trade is ailing. Oh, and then there’s the Fed. Jon Hay reports.

Tier three will become the new face of senior debt in 2017. The stage is finally set for the largest French banks to make their push into the new asset class, but issuers all over Europe will be looking to optimise their senior stacks for regulatory capital standards. Tyler Davies reports.