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Alicia García Herrero, who has worked at the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, has joined French bank Natixis as chief economist for Asia Pacific.

Mexican hotel group Grupo Posadas brought the lowest rated deal to Latin American bond markets since April, and despite it not being a blow-out bankers said any high yield supply was positive.

While Colombian state oil giant Ecopetrol made the most uncontroversial return to bond markets possible this week, Pacific Rubiales — the largest independent oil group in the South American country — saw its bonds take another plunge in a highly volatile year.

Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol on Tuesday notched up a deal that bankers saw as going as well as could be expected given a less than vibrant market and that it was the borrower’s first issue since oil prices began to fall.

Bond traders are eagerly awaiting hints about what could be drastic changes to the landscape of European bond trading, as the European Securities and Markets Authority took a crucial decision in Paris this week, writes Jon Hay.

CVC Partners on Thursday reduced to below €1bn its high yield offering to fund the acquisition of German cosmetics retailer Douglas Holding — yet investors dismissed the cut as a sign of an increasingly ‘closed for business’ market.

Santander has issued European covered bonds from Spain, Portugal and UK but could soon be about to issue Obligations Foncières from a new French programme.

The corporate bond market finally tasted a decent amount of supply this week after a punishingly quiet June but, while Capgemini's and Heinz’s ability to get size away is encouraging, syndicate bankers are fretting that Greece could undo all of the week’s positive developments.

Douglas Holding, the German perfume retailer, has become the third leveraged finance borrower this week to feel the lash of investors' anxiety about Greece, as it widened pricing on its €1.22bn loan.

As a poor first half for CEEMEA loan volumes ends, banker optimism is in short supply for the rest of the year – but Turkey, Africa and the Middle East offer hope.

Public sector bond markets are agonising over whether Greece can come to an agreement with its creditors at the last minute. Borrowers are stuck with plenty of funding to do, and may need to print throughout the summer. Tessa Wilkie reports.

NRW.Bank has taken advantage of favourable moves in the dollar/euro cross currency swap rate and a sell-off in US Treasuries to place its first callable zero note in dollars in nearly a year — and more euro agencies are likely to follow.