North America

The head of the World Bank has launched an outspoken attack on the European Central Bank’s monetary policy, saying its mass purchases of long-dated sovereign bonds was distorting markets and failed to provide short-term finance.

Sergio Ermotti’s call for improvement in UBS’s investment bank could be undermined by the arrival of his successor as chief executive, writes David Rothnie.

Mexican polyethylene producer Braskem Idesa’s 2029s were the worst performing bonds in emerging markets on Wednesday after the country's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was analysing whether he could break a contract under which Pemex supplies the company with ethane.

CPPIB Capital came to market for a dollar benchmark on Wednesday, after mandating the deal last Friday. The trade had been postponed to avoid printing in the peak of the volatility sparked by the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.

United Hampshire US Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) has kicked off the roadshow for a $323.6m Singapore IPO on the back of chunky cornerstone investor orders, according to a source familiar with the matter.

CPPIB Capital is moving forward with its five year dollar benchmark which was mandated last Friday but postponed following the hostile market conditions at the start of the week. Bankers away from the deal expect it to go well, given the limited size.

CPPIB Capital, which mandated banks for a five year benchmark on Friday, has postponed the deal in the face of a hostile market rocked by volatility engendered by the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Twelve of the largest global investment banks reduced their headcounts in equities by 10% last year, leading to one of the “steepest declines in years” in the number of investment bank employees, according to analytics firm CRISIL Coalition.

JP Morgan grabbed the record for the lowest yielding preferred security issue this week, as investors continued to pour cash into the asset class.

ING left its investors bemused on Wednesday, when it decided to pull the additional tier one (AT1) bond it was marketing on the basis of undisclosed information it had received. After the news of its chief executive’s move to UBS quickly became public, the door was left open for the bank to complete the trade.

HSBC’s corporate finance staff have survived its restructuring largely unscathed, but the more ambitious among them will see the bank’s plans as a missed opportunity, writes David Rothnie. And with no answer yet on the identity of the next full-time CEO, the uncertainty is not over.

US corporate bond issuers set a blistering pace this week as crowded into the market in droves after Monday’s Presidents’ Day holiday.