North America

Rules proposed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week on cross-border swap trading are a good first step, according to lawyers, but more clarity is needed on how Dodd-Frank requirements will apply.

The European subsidiary of Matthews, a US provider of 'memorialisation products', such as caskets and memorial plaques, has launched a €50m Schuldschein, which could grow based on demand from lenders.

Asia is gearing up for a bumper week of IPOs, with two $2bn deals launching on Monday and other smaller-sized floats vying for investor attention in what has been an action-packed October.

Including redemptions and central bank buying, the investable eurozone covered bond market has shrunk almost €80bn so far this year. No surprise, then, that three seven year deals issued this week by Ibercaja, Banco Sabadell and Bank of Montreal were swamped with demand.

The European Stability Mechanism is close to deciding on the format its first dollar benchmark will be printed in, while a deal due this Friday could open up to longer dated tenors what has already been an extremely strong dollar market in the three year part of the curve.

US borrowers exploited a quieter week to pre-fund their 2017 maturities, enjoying strong demand and tight pricing as the prospect of an interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve loomed.

Deutsche Bank led a trio of Yankee borrowers in an opportunistic dash for dollar funding, as US banks were confined to the sidelines because of an earnings blackout.

Maturing deals issued by Washington Mutual and National Bank of Greece show covered bonds doing precisely what they're supposed to — redeem in full and on time.

Political wrangling on both sides of the Atlantic this week produced contrasting fortunes for two currencies in futures markets, with the Mexican peso receiving a boost and the British pound slumping to some of its worst ever levels against the US dollar.

Mizuho has hired Jason Fertig as head of healthcare investment banking for North America. Fertig joins from Nomura, where he was co-head of Americas healthcare investment banking.

Export Development Canada will on Friday join a rampant dollar benchmark market and could open end up giving issuers more options after choosing a more daring maturity than those executed in the last few weeks.

US music publisher Warner Music Group on Monday was alone in the European high yield market at the same time that Verallia, the French glass packaging maker, told investors it had cancelled its pay-if-you-can bond offering.