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Private debt markets have made inroads into European funding strategies over the past few years, taking transactions from syndicated loan markets, as well as public bonds. The Schuldschein market has been particularly vibrant, racking up €27bn of issuance in 2017 from more than 150 transactions.

The Schuldschein market has a grand ambition — to make it big in the US. Its reputation is growing internationally but it will not be easy to take on the more established private debt instrument, the US private placement note. Silas Brown asks: just how realistic is the Schuldschein’s American ambition?

The Schuldschein market has broken into unknown territory, welcoming borrowers and lenders from far-flung lands, while establishing itself as a hotbed for technological advancement. Can the miracle last? Silas Brown reports.

The Schuldschein market attracts a diverse mix of investors, with different tastes and needs. Amid the push and pull of a burgeoning market, the burning question is whether each of these differing characters will remain content ­— or whether some may get pushed out, as the market develops and changes shape. Silas Brown reports.

The Schuldschein market attracted a record number of international issuers last year, and swept aside other forms of European private debt in the process. Now it must confront a bigger beast — a credit-hungry unrated public bond market — while simultaneously absorbing the impact of the European Central Bank winding down its bond purchasing programme. Silas Brown reports.

The thriving modern private debt market has germinated and grown in a greenhouse — the post-crisis shrivelling of banks and central bank stimulus of debt markets. But already, the banks are coming back. Next, central bank support will disappear — and sooner or later there will be a recession. Will private debt markets cope? Jon Hay reports.

Working in finance is a high stress job. Bankers work long hours, with the constant pressure of looking after clients’ money dangling over them.

In his latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse takes a closer look at the Hong Kong bourse’s guidelines on the suitability of IPO candidates.

Five years on from the swap execution facility (SEF) revolution hitting the US, an ‘upgrade’ — as the chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has described it — is overdue.

Researchers have found tweets can help to give information about bank depositor activity and even financial indicators. But can the social media platform really be relied on?

A 22 year old Canadian First Nations activist has flown 5,000 miles to berate Barclays for financing an oil pipeline through Alberta's tar sands. Investors in Barclays’ green bonds should be right alongside her. Those serious about climate change must look at issuers’ entire sustainability profiles, not simply green bond use of proceeds reports.

The launch of yet another new social housing real estate investment trust (Reit) this week will not be easy. The market has felt congested recently, and peers have ridden over a few bumps. But there ought to be a place for this asset class.