Search results for

Online small business lender OnDeck plans to seek a bank charter as it looks to increase its product offerings and lower its cost of funding, the company said in its second quarter earnings call.

UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes was jailed for 11 years for manipulating Libor. But while the trader argued that he was made a scapegoat for the financial crisis, perhaps the rate he rigged is a bigger victim.

A refinancing package of €1.23bn has lifted some pressure off Swiss aviation services company Swissport and driven Moody’s to change its ratings outlook on the company from negative to stable. Parent HNA has had a fire sale of assets to combat a cash crunch, and a new portability clause is likely a sign of its desire to exit from the Swiss firm.

Ukraine’s GDP warrants are trading around a cash price of 85. That is way below JP Morgan's view that fair value is closer to 135. No matter the new, surprisingly positive GDP growth forecasts and enthusiasm for the country’s new leadership, from the trading numbers it seems clear that investors do not believe they will get their money from Ukraine.

Populism and economic change are melting down old idols. When the next crisis comes, new fiscal and monetary tools will be used — including helicopter money.

The state of Israel returned to the yen market for the first time in 18 years this week to raise ¥15bn ($140m) of seven year debt. The private placement marks the state’s third visit to the capital markets in 2019 and its first non-euro trade of the year.

A dire two days for sterling served as a sharp rebuke to the UK government about its Brexit strategy and equity bankers and investors hold little hope for an imminent recovery in the country’s fortunes.

Supranational issuers have had a wide variety of options for funding this year. A strong dollar market has offered plenty of chances to fund in size, while some dollar funders have returned to euros thanks to a favourable basis swap. Bank treasuries shoring up on Sonia assets have helped push sterling issuance to record levels, while markets as diverse as the Norwegian krone and Turkish lira have also found homes for supranational paper. The Sofr market in dollars has also started to develop, although unlike its sterling risk-free rate cousin Sonia, standards on rate calculation are yet to be agreed. GlobalCapital brought together funding officials at some of the world’s highest rated borrowers to discuss these topics and more.

Public sector borrowers are driving the implementation of the new risk-free rates in sterling and dollars, with the former now a widely accepted and mainstream product in fixed income. A group of supranationals and agencies are also working closely with the European Central Bank to revolutionise the issuance and distribution of euro-denominated bonds. Burhan Khadbai reports.

European agencies trod carefully at the start of 2019 amid unsettled bond markets as the European Central Bank pulled the plug on its quantitative easing programme. But as the year has progressed, spreads and yields have rallied strongly as it becomes increasingly likely that the ECB will inject further monetary stimulus to aid lacklustre growth in the eurozone. Meanwhile, funding conditions in dollars pose a challenge with very tight US Treasury swap spreads and an unattractive euro/dollar basis swap keeping many of the European agencies away from the currency this year. Elsewhere, agencies are stepping up their preparations to follow their supranational peers in issuing bonds linked to the new risk-free rates in sterling, dollars and eventually euros as the date for Libor discontinuation approaches. Issuers are also having to cope with less information than ever before from bank syndicates as a result of increased regulation from MAR and MiFID. An initiative from the ECB, aiming to revolutionise the issuance and distribution of euro bonds has also placed the role of investment banks in the syndicate process under the spotlight. Some of the world’s leading agency issuers came together during the Global Borrowers & Bond Investors’ Forum in London in June to discuss these topics and many more in a specially convened roundtable.

The supranational and agency bond market’s love affair with green and socially themed bonds has reached a new intensity. Most large issuers now have programmes and they are deepening them with new assets. Government issuance is less advanced, but will soon overtake, as sovereigns copy the high profile, signalling deals of their neighbours. Jon Hay reports

Synthomer, the Malaysian-backed UK producer of aqueous polymers, has finished its £204m rights issue after the deal won a high take-up among shareholders.