UK banks slip out synthetic CLOs before year-end

Barclays, Lloyds, RBS and Santander UK all priced synthetic CLOs for risk transfer purposes just before the year-end, honing their capital positions for full year 2016 reporting. Most of the deals focused on large corporates, an asset class that fuelled much of last year’s boom in risk transfer trades, as banks seek ways to get ahead of increased Basel risk weights.