Greater China

Citi and ING have named new heads for their respective Asia debt syndicate teams, while Natixis has recruited a DCM banker from Commerzbank.

BAML loses Hong Kong IB chief to UBS — UBS hires from Deutsche for M&A — ANZ appointments — SGX names head of fixed income sales

China Minsheng Banking Corp grabbed the market’s attention on Wednesday, raising the maximum amount it had approval for with its debut additional tier one note, and getting away with little new issue premium.

The Shanghai Municipal government priced the first free trade zone (FTZ) bond on Thursday, marking the launch of a third bond market in China.

Country Garden Holdings priced a 10 year bond on Wednesday, having pulling an earlier attempt at a deal in November. While the market remains challenging, the issue was backed by anchor orders as the leads left little to chance this time.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance completed its second biannual offshore RMB (CNH) auction of the year in Hong Kong, which saw modest demand despite the solid premium over onshore Chinese government bond yields.

China has been tightening capital controls as it faces continued outflows and currency depreciation. The result is likely to be a change of focus for the RMB internationalisation (RMBi) process to areas such as the Belt and Road initiative, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Or so the saying goes. Not in China, it seems. Breaking the news that a bulge bracket firm in Hong Kong is suing a Chinese SOE client for non-payment of fees, our columnist Clawback says doing business in China is now little more than a league table exercise.

Three Chinese corporates took centre stage on Thursday with their respective dollar bond offerings. So far this week, borrowers from the country are the only ones to tap the Asia ex-Japan debt market.

The Luxembourg financial regulator has decided to allow Ucits funds registered in the country to enter the China interbank bond market direct access (CIBM Direct) scheme. The move is set to give yet another boost to China bond investments.

The first official list shows that investors have been keen to gain access to the China interbank bond market (CIBM). This is only the start with banks reporting strong demand from asset managers, while regulators are working hard to facilitate further inflows.

Chinese local government financing vehicle (LGFV) Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group returned to the international bond market on Tuesday, netting $440m from a dual-trancher. Market participants reckoned the company paid a premium amid a volatile market backdrop.