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Covered bonds and RMBS share important similarities which both the European Central Bank and Bank of England acknowledged last year in a discussion paper. As the two asset classes evolve, their vastly different regulatory treatment should become more difficult to justify.

The bookrunner league tables for international sukuk are skewed by huge lead manager line ups and low overall volumes and need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

A €500m ($579m) seven year loan by Malaysia Airports Holdings has seen a stellar response, allowing a pricing cut even after launch of general syndication. The strong support in the retail phase, despite the price cut, shows that for the right credit and structure, Asian lenders are ready to take flexibility.

Burning plants sends CO2 into the atmosphere – any 10 year old knows that. Yet thousands of bigwigs have convinced themselves otherwise. Don’t let the bond market make the same mistake.

HKBN’s lacklustre debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has shown up the city's tough ECM environment. But it would have been worse without some help behind the scenes from banks on the deal. Syndicates are going to have to get used to going the extra mile to help issuers in the aftermarket.

Is it any coincidence that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 11 day disappearance has coincided with reported sightings of new Russian loans? Loan Ranger thinks not.

One of the FIG world’s most extracurricularly active bankers was devastated last week when he found he was going to have to miss his annual trip to Cheltenham for the races because of work.

British American Tobacco’s 30 year euro bond opens a new product, and could usher in a bigger, more international European bond market.

The European Stability Mechanism sold the first euro benchmark at a negative yield this week — but stopped short of taking an innovative approach to marketing bonds that others may still adapt.

DBS is on course to become the first covered bond issuer from Singapore, having proposed a unique structure that will overcome the sticky issue of who has first claim on the asset pool. An agreement is close to being struck and the Singaporean lender is looking then to issue a benchmark size offering in either dollars or euros, writes Rev Hui.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly priorities can change. Just weeks ago, at my regular watering hole, I could spot none of my chums. Doubtless they were too busy pretending to be the best employee ahead of bonus season. That was never going to last long of course and I can now vouch that all is right once again in the banking world.

Asia syndicated loans volumes are on track for their weakest three months since the final quarter of 2008, which followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But this time it is the abundant liquidity of banks that is causing the problem. Lenders are abandoning syndications in favour of bilaterals as top rated borrowers call the shots, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.