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Selective investors have been less than wowed by the secondary performance in some bank bonds

The decompression trade between high grade and high yield credit is far from guaranteed to pay off

The CEEMEA primary market turned a corner in 2024 after two dreadful years. Hopes of interest rate cuts fuelled demand, with investors wanting to lock in high coupons while they could. Market access returned for all but a few and although most deals went very well, some stood out more than others.

CMBS has bounced back after shaking off the stigma of office exposure, among other negative headlines, taking advantage of a more stable rates environment to post impressive returns and issuance volumes. There is confidence that an even stronger 2025 is in store, writes Nick Conforti

Spread stabilisation holds the key for issuers looking to unlock funding from January onwards as the ‘perfect storm’ brews, writes Addison Gong

The most important regulatory reforms since the global financial crisis are coming for European structured finance in 2025. But while there is optimism securitization can play a meaningful role in European capital markets once again, there is a sense the market is in the last chance saloon, writes Tom Lemmon

After a year in which both primary volumes and spreads rebounded, the mood is optimistic in the European CLO market. Most market participants forecast more of the same, but there’s a growing acknowledgement that macroeconomic risks may complicate the picture, writes Victoria Thiele

After a stunning 2024, European securitization practitioners are daring to believe that 2025 could be even better. There are reasons for optimism, with banks shedding assets, lending volumes recovering and spreads attractive. New asset classes, issuers and more paper than ever could be themes that define 2025, writes George Smith

If 2024 was a better year for IPOs than the few before, that was nothing to brag about. Investors have made money and risk appetite is growing — but 2025 is expected to be the final year of recovery on the way to a restored market, writes Gaia Freydefont

Relentless appetite for financial institution paper led to a collapse in new issue premiums at the start of 2024. In the second half of the year, however, some investors pivoted away from senior paper and into subordinated debt as the hunt for yield intensified, writes Sarah Ainsworth

On a range of measures — liquidity, investor base, regulation — Australia scored highly this year as a source of fixed income funding. Growing interest from new and repeat issuers, and strong investor demand suggest the Australian dollar market will continue its upward march. While diversification is a common reason for banks from outside the country to operate Kangaroo programmes, it is not the only one. Relative value is also important. In November, GlobalCapital gathered senior funding leaders from major lenders in the UK, Nordics, EU, Canada, Asia and Australia — all with varying amounts of experience in the Australian market — to discuss all of this and more.

As 2024 draws to a close, the covered bond market is hoping — but not necessarily expecting — to see historically high spreads fall. The product’s strengths are unassailable, but pressure on other rates segments could be the deciding factor. GlobalCapital spoke to Bodo Winkler-Viti, Head of Funding & Investor Relations at Berlin Hyp, about the outlook for the year ahead, the growth of ESG and the bank’s role as a covered bond pioneer