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China Auto Rental (CAR) broke new ground when it became the first Asian car rental company to sell an offshore bond on January 28. Strong demand from investors allowed it to increase the deal and bankers hope its success will encourage some much needed diversification in the high yield market, writes Narae Kim.

Hong Kong has published its second consultation paper (CP2) on a resolution regime for financial institutions, as it readies itself for a new set of capital requirements – Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC). Market participants expect bond volumes to go up as banks prepare for the new regime, although for that to happen, the government will need to come up with answers to some tough questions, writes Rev Hui.

A long-stalled proposal to allow real estate investment trusts (Reits) in China re-emerged this week. The plan, slated for the first half of this year, is expected to help de-gear the balance sheets of Chinese homebuilders and tide them over a possible liquidity crunch. But as the plan has been on ice for a decade, questions abound as to its effectiveness — and whether it will find willing buyers and sellers, writes John Loh.

A lot of ink has been spilt over the moral hazard of allowing Greece to restructure its €240bn in Troika debt with haircuts. But seeing Greece's struggle with debt as an essentially moral problem leads to a stubbornness that precludes pragmatism.

Faced with shrinking yields, covered bond investors have been deserting the market. Unless the ECB moves out of the way and switches to sovereign purchases fast, there is a real risk that these buyers will not be there when the extraordinary stimulus measures now being delivered are taken away.

The European Commission’s “Juncker Plan” to boost investment by €315bn ($356.14bn) is welcome. Scepticism that it cannot work because it only has €21bn of capital is unwarranted. The European Investment Bank is putting its shoulder to the wheel and should not be underestimated. But do not expect this to solve Europe’s infrastructure investment problems. Money is not the problem. The real obstacles is are governments' indecision about what infrastructure they want and how investors will make a return.

JP Morgan’s investor survey found 19% of high grade investors think new issue premium (Nip) will be the best source of alpha in the year ahead. With yields on the floor, it makes sense, but it is sign of a deep malaise in the fixed income market.

Asian investment grade bond issuers have made their presence felt in the euro market in recent years as they seek diversification. With the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme set to lower rates, now would seem the be the ideal opportunity for more Asian names to target eurozone investors. But with US large caps also eyeing euros, Asian credits are likely to get pushed aside.

Loan bankers are a lovely, optimistic bunch who just want to get on with doing some deals whatever the weather, so the last thing they need is a scandalous naysayer peddling click-bait doom about their market, even if Russia is going to the wall (and it’s not of course).

With China's central bank finally starting to use the phrase "RMB internationalisation" to describe its efforts to promote the currency, the process looks set to enter a new stage this year. In contrast to earlier measures, the government's latest initiatives are all about encouraging capital and investment to go out into the wider world. That means it's time for China's domestic players to take a bigger role.

Thailand is shaping up to be one of southeast Asia’s busiest destinations for IPOs this year, with the pipeline of deals of above $100m building faster than in any of the country's peers in the region. A lot of the kudos for this goes to Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is actively working towards boosting the equity capital market by expediting the listing process for issuers, writes John Loh.

Australia and New Zealand Bank priced the first offshore renminbi-denominated Basel III bond from a non-Chinese bank on January 21. Not only did the Australian borrower achieve the size and pricing levels it was aiming for, but it also proved that funding in CNH can be cheaper than dollars, potentially triggering more non-Chinese lenders to follow suit, writes Narae Kim.