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The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has become the first foreign issuer to sell a dollar bond in Thailand’s domestic market, raising $182m from a privately placed offering.

In the last RMB round-up of 2015, HSBC became the first foreign bank to issue RMB-denominated CDs to corporates in China, Hungary plans RMB bonds in 2016 and Russian bank VTB saw a big boost to its RMB business in 2015. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) is set to return to the dollar bond market as early as the first week of January, having issued a request for proposals.

For most observes it had already become a matter of time. Standard & Poor’s had already made Brazil a sub-investment grade borrower and both Fitch and Moody’s had Latin America’s largest sovereign on review for downgrade.

Latin American DCM bankers say that January will bring a pick-up in new issue supply after a torrid second half of the year, but a positive reaction to Wednesday’s US interest rate hike has done little to adjust expectations for the coming year.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week voted in a final rule on margin requirements for uncleared swaps for bank dealers and major swap participants – despite the objection of one of the three commissioners that it will be far less effective at reigning in US bank excesses than an earlier version

Over €30bn of covered bond supply is expected from borrowers in Spain and Italy next year but with nearly €40bn of Cédulas redeeming, the technical backdrop is most constructive in Spain.

As the European high yield bond market tightened on news of the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike on Wednesday, some high yield bankers pondered whether the market's divergence from its US cousin could be the start of a long term trend, writes Ross Lancaster.

Bank market makers in credit index options got hammered twice in the past week, as a spike in spreads caught them long volatility after an unprecedented month-long market lull.

Commerzbank this week became the latest bank to lose its place on a sovereign’s list of primary dealerships, raising a familiar, weary groan from SSA bankers worried about the future of the model — but the head of a major eurozone sovereign has said that issuers are on the banks’ side.

The investment grade loans market has experienced a surge in activity this week, as borrowers have sought to get in on the last of the refinancing action for 2015, including two rare oil and gas issuers. But refinancing activity could be set to wind down in 2016 as bankers expect a widening in pricing.

Public sector borrowers were relieved this week as the US Federal Reserve raised rates as expected, which should make a super busy January easier to navigate, writes Craig McGlashan.