HSBC

Public sector borrowers will enjoy sparkling conditions in the dollar market in the coming weeks if they choose to fund in the currency, said SSA bankers, with demand far outstripping supply. But candidates look hard to find after a handful of deals this week, with euros still offering better all-in pricing levels.

After three sterling bonds this week from the eurozone, the cross-border issuance in the currency reached its highest ever year-to-date level, according to Dealogic.

The euro high yield bond pipeline brought five deals to the market this week, as secondary yield spreads and payoff expectations tightened, partially reversing recent trends.

The Nordic Investment Bank was able to ratchet in pricing to the lowest five year spread for several years as it fed a dollar market starved of supply.

UK healthcare property company Assura extended the recent run of sterling corporate bond issuance on Thursday when its debut deal became the third trade issued in the currency in as many days.

Agile Group Holdings printed a smaller-than-expected $200m bond on Wednesday, struggling to source demand in spite of a generous yield, raising questions about the timing of the transaction.

The Bank of England has clarified how it will set hurdle rates for banks in its 2018 stress test, featuring systemic risk buffers for the first time and changing the way in which Pillar 2 requirements are calculated through the duration of the exercise.

Graham Tufts has left his position as vice chairman of leveraged and acquisition finance at HSBC and is understood to be joining Royal Bank of Canada in a senior role.

The Nordic Investment Bank is set to bring a dollar benchmark in the five year part of the curve, a tenor that has come back into fashion for public sector borrowers — including from the European Investment Bank on Tuesday. That is despite most secondary flows coming in shorter maturities, according to SSA bankers.

The UK Debt Management Office breezed through another syndication on Wednesday, although bankers said that the darkening cloud of global trade wars likely led some investors to seek shelter in the safe-haven asset.

HSBC has hired two bankers, one from Credit Suisse and one from UBS, to strengthen its business with private equity firms and in offering leveraged financing.

A survey of 2,350 bankers has found that NatWest Markets, HSBC and Barclays had the largest proportion of bankers saying they were happy with their 2018 bonuses, while Société Générale, Citi and BNP Paribas had the lowest proportion.