Europe

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes by mid-March.

Markets expressed disappointment following the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting this week, but some analysts said that the changes made to the terms of its bank funding schemes represented a real war chest to support lending.

Premier Oil’s stock surged by more than 65% on Friday after the company gave an update on its cash position following this week’s equity market slump, a positive for the banks working on its rights issue. However, the deal also hinges on a court case in Scotland.

JP Morgan appoints syndicate head for private markets — RBC loses M&A banker — Mizuho names sustainability head

As the coronavirus pandemic threatens every facet of capital markets activity, trading floors and back offices have emptied in recent days, leading to questions about how efficiently business can be done from home and alternative sites, write Paola Aurisicchio, Jasper Cox, Jennifer Kang and Ross Lancaster.

Governments and central banks failed to prevent fear from taking hold of the capital markets this week, as Covid-19 reached pandemic status. European equity indices faced record falls on Thursday, before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced a $500bn repo operation to combat "highly unusual disruptions" in the US Treasury market. But it is far from clear if such extraordinary intervention will be enough to stop the panic.

Bankers are confident that companies up and down the ratings scale can lean on their lending groups during market volatility. But borrowers in the most stretched groups are not waiting to find out, with some clients already drawing their lines, adding backup loans, and trying to negotiate waivers on debt limits. Silas Brown, Jon Hay and Owen Sanderson report.

The European Central Bank failed to cheer bank debt investors with a stimulus package at the end of a difficult week that saw credit spreads soar. However, some analysts think that the ECB offered more than was immediately apparent, with its moves amounting to €800bn of capital relief.

JP Morgan has appointed James Mazur, a former hedge fund executive, as head of private syndicate in its EMEA equity capital markets private placements business.

Investec Group has cancelled the IPO of its asset management division Ninety One due to extreme market volatility, although the listing and demerger of the unit will still go ahead as planned, according to a stock exchange filing.

ECB president Christine Lagarde used the meeting on Thursday to effectively distance herself from financial markets, saying 'we are not here to close spreads'. Despite a number of 'smart ideas', the absence of monetary promises have caused credit and peripheral spreads to widen.

Finablr, the parent company of Travelex, has issued a warning that it may struggle to access financing due to the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus and its association with NMC Health, causing its share price to slump to a record low.