Free content

Banks are going to play an outsized role in softening the economic impact of Covid-19 in the euro area.

Speak to enough sell-side capital markets bankers and a few patterns start to emerge. For all the talk of putting the client first and understanding their needs, the advice from syndicate and DCM shows a certain bias towards doing bond deals.

China has launched a streamlined system for corporate bond issuance. The move should be applauded — but it further muddies the waters in China’s regulatory system, writes Rebecca Feng.

Apologies millennials, but not everything needs to come with an added perk. Whatever happened to banking being boring?

The US Federal Reserve’s emergency 50bp cut in interest rates on Tuesday failed to reassure markets. The US and European response to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak needs to incorporate targeted fiscal policy as well.

The coronavirus knows no borders — but the response is all about national power. The same will be true in markets.

Novo Banco has requested a capital injection of €1.037bn, much of which will be sourced from the Portuguese state. This shines a bad light on European banking regulators and their mandates.

Middle East sovereigns have been taking their time in getting round to doing green financing, despite many of the region’s companies and banks embracing the shift to sustainability-linked issuance. They have no excuse not to print, and every incentive to cement their commitment to sustainability.

Central banks across the world seem to be heading towards rate cuts, accelerated by the need to mitigate the economic effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. An unintended consequence of this is an increasing scarcity of attractive arbitrage funding opportunities for borrowers. This sort of funding, typically a perk of the best rated borrowers, will concentrate funding risk for them instead — ironically at a time when they should benefit from their safe haven status.

Bank of China made headlines last week for selling the first offshore Covid-19 linked bond. But the trade's status as a social bond — the first to come offshore from China — got less attention. The transaction shows the potential for social bonds from the country, while raising questions about why it has taken so long to see such a deal.

In this round-up, China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to record lows in February, the Hainan provincial government has stepped in to restructure HNA Group and the updated Securities Law took effect on Sunday.

In this round-up, the growth of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) infections outside China outpaced that reported by the country, Chinese regulators announced more loosening policies and the trade of wild animals for consumption is banned in the Mainland.