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Marathon runners fear the dreaded wall — the point near the end of a race where all energy and hope is drained. SSA issuers made it over the line with their funding in 2023 but there were signs of a flagging market in the final, hard yards, writes Georgie Lee

Sovereigns, supranational and agency issuers that could think a little differently stood out in 2023. As borrowers grappled with rates volatility, narrower issuance windows and yet no let-up in borrowing requirements, it was those that could be nimble or novel as well as those that laid down price markers for others that took the most plaudits

Europe’s corporate bond market kept working throughout a rough year of interest rate rises, despite some bashes along the way. As Mike Turner reports, investors now sense that rates have peaked and some are willing to take the risk of buying longer-term debt — but no one expects 2024 to be a smooth ride.

After a year of central bank tightening, corporate bond specialists are figuring out how ‘higher for longer’ will affect credit. As Mike Turner found in his survey, senior bankers and investors across Europe expect subdued volume, wider spreads, spots of credit anxiety — and then a new regime of economic stress and falling rates

It has been a busy year for capital markets across the Middle East in general, and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in particular.

When the shockwave set off by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank swept the legs from under Credit Suisse, all the talent and relationships of a big investment bank were up for grabs. UBS has tried to hang on to what it sees as the best bits — but the biggest beneficiaries are likely to be rivals. Jon Hay and David Rothnie report

European ABS market participants are optimistic about 2024, despite the persistence of rates volatility and economic fears. While poor arbitrage haunts the CLO market, managers are ready to tighten the straps on their captive equity funds and soldier on. George Smith and Victoria Thiele assess the market outlook for European securitized products

The main consideration for eurozone banks at the start of 2023 was to garner what remained of the ECB bid for covered bonds but by the end of the year they had negotiated not one but two crises. Sarah Ainsworth reports on how, despite all the volatility, they navigated another strong year for issuance

A dreadful year for ECM volumes has not helped European banks play a bigger part in EMEA equity capital markets. But there are dreams of a better 2024 and, as John Crabb and Aidan Gregory report, Europe’s banks have specialisms up their sleeves to help them grab market share

The Swiss franc bond market weathered the collapse of one of its two biggest players in 2023 to enjoy its busiest year since 2014. Investors welcomed foreign issuers from all quarters with open arms and, as Sophie Astles writes, those visitors may be here to stay

Observers could have been forgiven for thinking the additional tier one market might be as defunct as Credit Suisse, the bank whose demise mired it in controversy. By the autumn AT1s had come roaring back but, as Sarah Aisnworth reports, this was not 2023’s only wild ride in the FIG primary market

For the first time since the global financial crisis, there is optimism that much-needed positive and proportionate regulatory reform is coming to European securitization. Yet there is a long way to go before glimmers of hope translate into concrete changes or have a meaningful impact, write Tom Lemmon and George Smith.