Europe

Morgan Stanley has been fined €20m by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) for manipulation of French and Belgian government bond prices. The bank intends to appeal the fine.

Sweden published a study on Tuesday of the advantages and disadvantages of joining the EU’s Banking Union, highlighting the risk of becoming politically marginalised if it remains outside of the arrangements.

Denmark’s debt officials have a highly original plan to issue green bonds in which the green element can be stripped off and traded separately. It’s going to put many a green nose out of joint. That’s no bad thing: the market needs to re-examine its claims to efficacy and virtue.

Voters go to the polls on Thursday to pick the next UK government, with the outside possibility of a far left Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government keeping capital markets bankers awake at night. But the return of Marxism might hold some silver linings for them.

The Conservatives may push for further deregulation of the UK’s financial system after Brexit, including allowing dual-class share structures on London's main market, if they emerge victorious from the general election on Thursday. This would be a mistake — they should not put at risk London's high corporate governance reputation in order to seek to compete with New York or Hong Kong.

The European Union (EU) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) have switched the legal framework of their debt issuance programmes from English to Luxembourg law as they prepare for the UK’s withdrawal from the union.

Barings Investment Institute has hired Agnès Belaisch as chief European strategist.

Crédit Agricole bagged a total loss-absorbing capacity eligible senior preferred Panda bond in China last week — the first of its kind onshore. But the confusion it created shines a light on a market that is still in dire need of education around these new structures. With Chinese banks set to come under pressure soon to issue their own TLAC-eligible bonds onshore, rapid change is needed before time runs out.

The compromises made last week to reach political agreement on the European Union’s Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities were beginning to become clearer, before the surprise rejection of the deal by France and some east European countries on Wednesday threw the issue up in the air again.

Another packaging company is hunting for better financing terms in the issuer-friendly European high yield bond market. Berry Global follows companies such as Crown, Ball, Smurfit Kappa, Owen-Illinois and Ardagh with an ambitious refinancing that could be priced as early as Thursday — the day of the UK general election.

Christian Berendes will head up Deutsche Bank’s government and regulatory affairs department from next year, after being promoted internally.

HSBC has picked Georges Elhedery and Greg Guyett as co-heads of its global banking and markets (GBM) division, replacing Samir Assaf, who has been handed a new role as chair of corporate and institutional banking.