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A rarely seen product is set to return to the Asian securitization market with fixed income specialist SC Lowy and UOB Asset Management (UOBAM) gearing up for a $400m collateralized loan obligation (CLO). The transaction will be the first non-bank originated Asian CLO in years, but the structured finance community is sceptical about the market’s potential, writes Rev Hui.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been one of Asia’s most proactive bourses in finding ways to improve its business, but some market participants are worried that it is out of touch. Chew Sutat, SGX’s head of equities and fixed income, told GlobalCapital Asia that there is a gap between perception and reality. John Loh reports.

A group of four banks have launched a $300m three year bullet that marks Santander Consumer Finance’s (SCF) debut in the Asian syndicated loan market.

United Overseas Bank sold a landmark transaction this week, printing the first euro-denominated covered bond from Asia, and plans to become a frequent issuer in the market.

IBM exited its entire position in Chinese tech firm Lenovo this week, raising HK$1.17bn ($150m) via a block sale. It was able to offload the stock at the top end of guidance after a flood of demand from Asian hedge funds.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp sold half its stake in India’s Kotak Mahindra Capital this week, raising Rp20.69bn ($300m) in the year’s first block trade in the country. And in a rare case, the deal managed to bypass the problem of slippage typical with sell-downs in India. Jonathan Breen reports.

Covered bonds have dominated FIG supply again this week as banks look towards a European Central Bank policy decision next week that is impossible to call.

Indonesia Eximbank is asking banks for options to refinance a loan raised in 2013, with talks involving the issuance of a new loan or a bond.

Bond Connect is one of the key schemes of the Hong Kong Exchange Group (HKEX) as it embarks on an ambitious plans to act as a gateway between China and the rest of the world. The programme will act as a gateway for financial institutions who don’t want direct access to China’s bond market as well as a launch pad for indices and derivative products, said chief executive Charles Li.

The CME Group will launch trading of a new dollar index futures contract in April, in collaboration with Bloomberg, with the new index including the offshore RMB (CNH) as one of its currencies.

Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation will become the third issuer from Singapore to set up a covered bond programme, its head of funding confirmed with GlobalCapital’s sister publication The Cover on Tuesday. Though similarly rated to Singapore’s other two issuers, OCBC’s business model is somewhat different.

The financial services arm of US automaker Ford has launched bookbuilding for its maiden foray into the Singapore dollar bond market.