HSBC

Russian Standard Bank has withdrawn its proposed tier two bond update after failing to secure the consent of holders of nearly half of the bond before the December 16 deadline. The offer looked to be struggling as early as mid-December when the bank increased the late consent fee from 1% to 5% to switch to the new notes.

Republic of the Philippines has become the first Asian issuer out of the blocks in 2015, launching a new 25 year bond and giving investors the option to switch out of 15 outstanding deals.

Property company Greenland Hong Kong’s subsidiary True Thrive has signed a three year dual currency loan term loan with a syndicate of eleven banks.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) has mandated seven banks for its first bond sale of 2015, in a deal that is expected to hit the screens by mid-January. The borrower is making an early start to its fundraising in a year that will see it raise up to $13bn offshore.

British Car Auctions, which claims to be Europe’s biggest secondhand car dealer, has signed a £340m loan – one of the last European leveraged finance deals to close in 2014. The deal raises £265m of new money – just slightly less than the £270m planned.

Zenith Bank of Nigeria is signing a $300m loan today – its first in the international syndicated loan market. The deal was increased from $250m after being oversubscribed.

Deutsche Bank looks set to finish second in the 2014 league table for bookrunners of global supranational, sovereign and agency bonds, excluding US agencies. Deutsche has been top every year since 2010.

The Credit Guarantee Investment Facility (CGIF), added Indonesia’s Astra Sedaya Finance to its guarantee portfolio, making it the fifth transaction for the CGIF this year.

Schuldschein bankers are hoping to continue the market's expansion in 2015 to include more borrowers from outside German-speaking countries, even though some recent international deals have not gone according to plan.

Strong deals from Liquid Telecom, Fidelity Bank, Lake Turkana Wind Power and Africa Finance Corp in recent weeks have highlighted the popularity of supranational and telecoms deals in Africa.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority released the results of its latest round of stress tests this week, revealing that of the eight largest UK banks and building societies only the Co-operative Bank had ran afoul of its adverse scenario. Bankers and analysts have taken the results as a sign that the UK’s financial system is robust, though some have warned that future stress tests may become trickier to navigate.

HSBC’s UK investment banking revolution will gain momentum in 2015, going beyond its previous narrow attempt to build a global M&A business, writes David Rothnie.