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  • Last week, the UK government, fired up with the success of the Banking Standards Review, the Independent Commission on Banking, the interest rate swap misselling review, the payment protection insurance review, and the Royal Bank of Scotland restructuring group review, and delighted with the progress of the Co-op review, the review of foreign bank branch capital holdings, the review on variable bank leverage ratios and the review of stress testing proposals, decided to launch another financial markets review.
  • If companies fund in bond markets, what happens when bond investors dump the asset class? Federal Reserve officials are crying that something must be done. Should bond investors have to pay exit fees to pull money out of funds? There have been worse ideas, but not recently.
  • Things have started looking up for Asian yield play investors this week, as Jinmao Investments started marketing a HK$3.39bn ($437m) hospitality business trust that will pay out up to 9%. If it goes ahead, it will be the first high-yielding IPO in the region since January, as issuers finally wake up to changed investor expectations.
  • The UK’s Islamic banks have good grounds for fury at missing out on the UK sovereign sukuk mandate. But for their own sakes, they must keep faith that the deal is a dress rehearsal for something bigger, and turn up in size to buy the paper.
  • A fat pipeline of sukuk and bonds before the end of the month should add to what is already one of the busiest quarters on record for Middle East dollar deals. With Ramadan and the summer slowdown approaching, this extra surge is a big test of market depth — particularly for sukuk — but it is one that the market should pass comfortably.
  • If you ask me what is the most important characteristic of an investment banker, I would say the ability to see the positive side of things, no matter how terrible and ridiculous the situation really is.
  • Many bond documents have huge holes in them when it comes to sanctions, which could in theory trap paying agents and other deal parties in civil and even criminal legal action.
  • Post-trade transparency in the US, in the form of Trace, helped improve bid-offer spreads in the bond market more than a decade ago, and some investors and regulators are hoping European investors will get a better deal as the Mifid proposals come into force.
  • When Sinopec this week tapped three of the five tranches from its record breaking $5bn April issue, it joined a select group of savvy issuers who are reopening existing bonds to take more for less. Tighter spreads and abundant liquidity make for cheaper deals. Borrowers with further funding needs should consider a quick and easy return to the market.
  • A resurgent Asian equity-linked primary market took a slap in the face last week after Khazanah Nasional pulled an exchangeable sukuk worth as much as $750m after it failed to achieve the pricing it wanted despite plenty of demand. While Khazanah is unlikely to be damaged by the incident, it needs to recognise that its actions have consequences for the rest of the market.
  • A fat pipeline of sukuk and bonds before the end of the month should add to what is already one of the busiest quarters on record for Middle East dollar deals. With Ramadan and the summer slowdown approaching, this extra surge is a big test of market depth — particularly for sukuk — but it is one which the market should pass comfortably.
  • Given the market's excitable reaction to the European Central Bank merely intensifying preparations for purchase of ABS, why should the central bank go through with the deed itself? As its president, Mario Draghi's vowing to do whatever it took to save the euro back in July 2012 showed, talk is cheaper than action when making monetary policy.