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The mutual recognition of funds (MRF) scheme opens today for application by Mainland and Hong Kong-based fund managers. Foreign asset managers with mainland joint ventures are likely to enjoy early success, though analysts expect the programme to achieve wide popularity.

Rubber company Halcyon Agri Corporation completed a $413m loan on July 1 for working capital and to refinance an acquisition loan that was taken last year.

News that BlackRock will start using the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SHSC) shows the trading link is beginning to appeal a wider range of investors as the early technical issues get resolved. This increasing popularity is even holding up in the face A-share volatility with turnover on the northbound channel on the rise.

It's been a good week for Europe's renminbi ambitions with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) extending a Rmb50bn RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) quota to Hungary, while China Construction Bank (CCB) listed its RQFII ETF on Paris’ Euronext.

The Tokyo Pro-Bond market has welcomed its first offshore renminbi offering, with Mizuho Bank printing an Rmb250m ($41.1m) trade.

Puerto Rico this week made two crucial payments on its state debt, but a restructuring — and therefore a default — look increasingly inevitable. The diverse spread of investors in the island’s bonds may impede negotiations, however.

Deutsche Annington, the German housing company, successfully completed a €2.25bn rights issue, it said on Wednesday.

US water, hygiene and energy technologies provider Ecolab reopened the corporate bond market on Wednesday with a €575m issue after a shorter than expected shut down.

Public sector borrowers are snapping up opportunities in the medium term note market, as Greece’s bail-out negotiations and imminent US non-farm payroll data stifle syndicated supply.

An illiquid, niche space to begin with, credit default swap markets on US municipal debt are being sorely tested by an unprecedented risk of Puerto Rico default.

Mexican telco América Móvil has hit the road despite the threat of a Greek default. The firm is looking at dollar and global local peso bonds, but has a definite currency preference, said bankers close to the sale.

Eurozone periphery sovereign bonds lost some of their advances from Wednesday morning, following the latest fiery comments by the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.