Japan

The Bank of Japan has used every implement in the monetary policy toolbox to try to kick-start the economy. Does it have any tricks left to fight the impact of the coronavirus? Matthew Thomas reports.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred a shift in Japan’s socially responsible investment (SRI) bond market, which has long supported green deals but is now turning its focus to other environmental, social and governance products.

What impact has Covid-19 had on Japan? The answer is complicated. No major economy has done so well at containing the spread of the virus — or so badly at limiting the economic fall-out. William Pesek reports.

The Bank of Japan has long been the driver of yields in the government bond market. It has increasingly become a key player in corporate bonds as well, creating opportunities for issuers and investors alike.

Japan’s banks have faced multiple crises over past decades, but the coronavirus pandemic has thrown out some fresh surprises — and could challenge their future growth, writes William Pesek.

Samurai bonds have taken a big hit this year due to Covid-19, with deal volumes slumping by more than 75%. This has not only tested the resilience of the market — but also raised serious questions about its long-term prospects.

This week in Keeping Tabs: what scientists still don't know about coronavirus as we grapple with a second wave, ESG index funds outperformed in the first half of the year, and Japan's currency challenge.

Nissan Motor made its debut in the European bond market on Friday with a €2bn deal that investors would have liked larger and differently shaped, just a day after it had issued its first ever foreign currency bond, for $8bn.

Hungary returned to the Samurai market after a two year absence on Friday to sell the first ever sovereign green bond in the market, which formed part of its ¥62.7bn (€500m) four tranche deal, which the sovereign used to extend its debt curve while also introducing a new investor base to the credit.

Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group came to the dollar market with a $2bn trade on Tuesday as it jumped ahead of the September funding rush.

Covered bond issuers were urged to do their toughest covered bond trades in the wake of an outstanding result on Thursday for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, which attracted a deeper and broader range of higher quality demand for its first negative yielding structured covered bond than any of its previous deals.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation sent a positive signal to hesitant Asian covered bond issuers on Thursday when it was set to price its first negative yielding covered bond, attracting a deeper and broader scale of demand than on any of its previous deals.