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Europe’s insurers are planning a raid on the tier two market in the second quarter, but may have to wait until a growing pipeline of bank tier two is cleared.

The majority of FIG bankers feel UK bank spreads are insulated from the country’s election result whoever wins, but others fear prolonged policy uncertainty following a hung parliament could trigger a sell-off.

No one likes to prove Jamie Dimon right. But if Thursday’s government bond sell-off in Europe proved anything, it is that investors should indeed have liquidity at the top of their list of concerns.

Execution risk has been pushed sky high in bank capital after NordLB, a German bank, was forced to pull an additional tier one print on Thursday, writes Tom Porter.

Bank of America ended a supply drought by big-name banks on Thursday as it came to market with a green bond.

ICBC London, the UK subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has signed a term loan for $1bn, the largest loan the bank has ever issued and a step on the path of its plans for expansion in Europe.

Steelmaker Metinvest is continuing the Ukrainian tradition of last minute Eurobond reprofiling. The increasingly cash starved firm launched a new consent solicitation on Thursday afternoon — after announcing a failed effort earlier in the week — designed to provide precious breathing space for it to build a sustainable debt management strategy.

Afren, the troubled oil exploration company, has avoided imminent bankruptcy with a $200m lifeline credit facility. The money injection follows a tense restructuring process in which two Nigerian banks dictated terms to a group of global financial giants, writes Olivier Holmey.

US companies are continuing their steady march into the euro bond market, including many who have never issued before, or not for many years.

Turbulence in Bunds drove issuers away from the primary market in euros this week, with only UBS opting to sell a new issue — and even then opting for an extremely defensive print.

From yields to maturities and covenants, most high yield market metrics are being pushed around by the impact of the European Central Bank’s asset-purchasing programme. But bankers and investors insist the situation is not getting out of hand.

Colgate-Palmolive took advantage of strong demand for floating rate notes on Thursday to price a €500m four year FRN, arguably inside where it could have issued a fixed rate bond.