North America
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Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, became one of the most namechecked people in the responsible investing movement in 2018 when he affirmed that “Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers and the communities in which they operate.”
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Dollar SSA issuance picked up in earnest this week after a slower than usual start to the year, with a rich variety of borrowers printing deals, some in record size or with record books. Conditions are such that SSA bankers are confident supply will keep coming and demand stay high for the next few weeks — cheering news for one sovereign issuer looking to make a comeback in the currency. -
A record start to the SSA sterling market came to a halt early this week, with borrowers avoiding prints as the UK Parliament delivered a historically large defeat to the government over its planned withdrawal agreement with the European Union. But once the big risk of the event was out the way, supply picked up — although with Brexit’s direction as uncertain as ever, further blocks to issuance are likely.
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Wall Street banks returned to the dollar market after reporting earnings this week, but while order books bulged, Yankee banks stayed on the sidelines.
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Given the uncertainty created by Tuesday’s Brexit vote, the issuance frontloaded into the Swiss franc market at the start of the week was dominated by domestic borrowers.
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The new-look Fox Corp made its dollar bond debut this week as the technical backdrop in the investment grade continued to improve with tightening spreads and thinner new issue concessions.
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The Province of Ontario will this Friday be the fourth SSA from Canada to visit a very strong dollar market this week, after CPPIB Capital printed on Monday, Alberta on Tuesday and the sovereign made a rare visit on Thursday. Dexia Crédit Local also printed in the currency on Thursday and SSA bankers are confident of more supply next week.
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Industry body the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has submitted a lengthy letter to the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) lobbying for changes to the leverage ratio and how it interacts with derivatives clearing.
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The super-hot dollar bond market is set to welcome a pair of SSAs on Thursday — including a rare name in the currency — after a mid-week lull in issuance.
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Export Development Canada will head out for a roadshow next month for its first benchmark in euros, taking advantage of the attractive market conditions for issuing in the currency for dollar funders. More deals could follow from debut and rare issuers in euros, with several borrowers looking “closely” at the cross-currency basis swap, according to bankers.
