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Long call periods are now an established feature in bank capital products, but the benefits should also apply to the senior market, particularly when it comes to riskier borrowers beginning their MREL journeys.

David Cameron’s involvement with Greensill Capital blew a financial scandal into a political crisis, as details emerged of the close contacts between the company, civil servants, ministers and the British establishment. Last week, UK lawmakers had their chance to grill Cameron directly, in a session which can’t have been too comfortable. But amid the self-exculpation, the ex-Prime Minister had a couple of good points.

Secondary bond traders in the SSA and covered bond markets are focussed on Tuesday’s European Union new issue amid hopes that it will help draw a line as far as secondary market weakness is concerned. But with one eye on the European Central Bank’s June meeting, there is still some trepidation about prospective cuts in central bank asset purchasing.

In this round-up, the People’s Bank of China leaves the one year medium-term lending facility rate unchanged for over a year, it plans Rmb25bn ($3.9bn) of bill issuance in Hong Kong, and the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses approve China’s first public infrastructure real estate investment trusts since the pilot programme’s launch last April.

Bankers woke up on May 12 to find themselves in a changed world, quickly realising they would need to adapt to a new set of circumstances.

In this round-up, China records the lowest population growth in decades, the pace of credit expansion moderates, and a surge in the country’s factory gate prices adds to global inflation concerns.

In the film 'Annie Hall', Woody Allen recounts two diners’ experience at a restaurant. “One of them says: ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says: ‘Yeah, I know; and such small portions.’”

The UK's High Court delivered a ringing endorsement of the country's new restructuring regime this week in a landmark ruling on gym chain Virgin Active, showing that companies have a new route other than CVAs to cut their debts to landlords. Silas Brown and Owen Sanderson report.

Commercial landlords in the UK are angry about gym chain Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, and with good reason. Many of them have lost out heavily, while senior secured creditors got away with little more than an amend and extend.

I have shared my recent experience of getting vaccinated in Hong Kong with my loyal readers, many of whom have given me kudos.

The debate over whether SSA borrowers should pay less in underwriting fees has split the market since the EU told banks it would pay less than the standard rate for its €800bn Next Gen EU bond programme. It is "the only topic" under discussion, one senior SSA banker told GlobalCapital this week. Is it fair to pay banks less when central banks underpin the market, or will issuers jeopardise their position long-term? Here, we present arguments for an against a shake-up of the way banks are paid.

The SSA syndication fee schedule is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was. The EU has kick-started the debate, but the flaws in the business model go well beyond the issues the EU's fees grid has raised.