Europe

Greek banks’ senior unsecured bonds suffered another sharp fall on Monday after Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said bondholders would be bailed in to protect even uninsured depositors.

SEB’s head of corporate finance will be leaving after nine years with the bank to work for a private equity firm in Stockholm, with SEB looking internally and externally to fill his job.

The close trade links between Germany and China are the main driver for a promising German RMB market. Marcus Sehr, global head of institutional cash, global transaction banking, at Deutsche Bank, tells GlobalRMB that new trade transactions should be the real key to promote more local RMB use.

Berenberg has hired a new senior UK economist, after Rob Wood jumped ship to Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this year.

In this round-up, China's cross border RMB trade settlement falls in July, Seoul plans to launch RMB/Won futures in October, Moscow Exchange sees growing CNY/Rouble spot and swaps turnover, China's central bank issued its yearly financial stability report, and the UK's foreign secretary said during a visit to China that London would keep supporting RMB internationalisation initiatives.

On July 15, 2015, Afren announced that the expected level of near term production would likely be materially lower than what had been announced alongside the proposed restructuring on March 13.

The situation was no longer tenable. Afren’s management determined that it needed more money, and a debt restructuring, to stay afloat. In January, Afren said it had begun talking to creditors about its capital structure.

July 31 is Afren’s day of disaster. In 2014, on that day, the London-listed oil explorer revealed a corruption scandal that reached the highest echelons of its management. Its chief executive and chief operating officer were suspended, the share price faltered, and trust in the business was shaken.

Frustrated with the terms of the restructuring, and distrustful of Afren and its bondholders, Afren Legal Action tried to revitalise hopes of finding a buyer for Afren. A bid for Afren had been widely considered a good solution to its problems, going back to 2014. Afren, once a poster child for Africa’s energy sector, was potentially still an attractive asset.

Asog was just one Afren shareholder force jockeying for position. As the share price fell, institutional investors, which had dominated Afren’s register, sold some of their shares to other kinds of investor.

On July 31, 2015, Afren went into administration. There was no public outcry, though several national papers in the UK ran the news. Afren had never been a household name.

Swedbank’s sharp five year floater was the only FIG supply in euros this week, but bankers believe the market will only suffer a short summer drought before supply ramps up this month.