Governance

  • Large, crowded offices: going, going, gone

    Large, crowded offices: going, going, gone

    Safety measures to respond to the coronavirus threat are forcing a rethink of office space at financial firms. And in the long-term, banks are set to reconsider their physical footprint and how much work can be carried out remotely, according to managers and experts.

    21 May 2020
  • What Argentina’s leaders can learn from their predecessors

    What Argentina’s leaders can learn from their predecessors

    The Argentina turnaround story under former president Mauricio Macri turned out to be a castle built on sand. But slick execution of the country’s two year bond market fairytale between 2016 and 2018 can provide the new government with some guidance in dealing with investors now it is staring down the barrel of default.

    12 May 2020
  • Some shareholders have always been more equal than others

    Some shareholders have always been more equal than others

    The wave of accelerated capital raisings in the UK in response to the Covid-19 crisis has caused consternation in some circles because retail investors cannot access to these deals. While the principle of shareholder equality is without doubt a noble one, in reality larger shareholders have always had more access to equity capital markets deals than retail investors have.

    12 May 2020
  • China hits pause on reform, but not for long

    China hits pause on reform, but not for long

    China has made great strides in attracting foreign capital by relaxing stringent rules around access to its markets. But it needs to go further, with experts saying reform should be brought to the top of the agenda once the dust from the Covid-19 outbreak settles. Addison Gong reports.

    12 May 2020
  • Trump’s China attacks undermine bond recovery

    Trump’s China attacks undermine bond recovery

    Chinese bond issuers can feel a sense of relief that the country is starting to end its Covid-19-related lockdowns. But although the coronavirus might become less of a problem for these issuers over the rest of the year, an old enemy will again cause problems. US president Donald Trump is once again rattling his sabre.

    05 May 2020
  • NMC Health's 'insane' time as a public company ends

    NMC Health's 'insane' time as a public company ends

    NMC Health, the scandal-hit UAE hospitals operator, has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange, after it was placed into administration by the UK High Court earlier this month following an application by creditors led by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Equity capital markets sources reflect on the shocking saga.

    27 Apr 2020
  • Luckin fraud boosts Credit Suisse’s Asian loan provisions

    Luckin fraud boosts Credit Suisse’s Asian loan provisions

    Credit Suisse has been hit hard by the alleged accounting scandal at Nasdaq-listed Luckin Coffee, which is understood to be behind one of the largest loans covered in the bank’s loan loss provisions for the first quarter of 2020.

    24 Apr 2020
  • CSRC raises red flags with Star duo

    CSRC raises red flags with Star duo

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has penalised two Star market companies for failing to make sufficient risk disclosures in their IPO documents. The duo were among the first batch of 25 companies to list on the Star board.

    14 Apr 2020
  • Credit Suisse’s op risk is sold to investors once more

    Credit Suisse’s op risk is sold to investors once more

    A new insurance-linked security (ILS) gives investors exposure to Credit Suisse’s operational risk: the third trade of its type covering the Swiss bank and the biggest one yet. Credit Suisse can receive relief on regulatory capital from insurance policies related to non-financial risk.

    14 Apr 2020
  • NatWest Markets pushes ahead with job cuts

    NatWest Markets pushes ahead with job cuts

    Royal Bank of Scotland is pushing ahead with job cuts in its investment banking division, bucking a trend by big banks to delay restructuring plans and cost-cutting during the coronavirus crisis.

    09 Apr 2020
  • UK body gives thumbs up to pre-emption relaxation

    UK body gives thumbs up to pre-emption relaxation

    The Pre-Emption Group, an assembly of listed companiesm investors and intermediaries that monitors pre-emption rights in the UK, has changed its guidelines to say that the impacts of the Covid-19 coronavirus means investors should support companies selling new shares worth up to 20% of their market capitalisation without giving existing shareholders first refusal.

    01 Apr 2020
  • Oil price war confirms what investors feared about Saudi Aramco

    Oil price war confirms what investors feared about Saudi Aramco

    Saudi Aramco’s IPO last year was a historic event for the company and its owner, Saudi Arabia, but despite a record $29.4bn being raised at IPO, international investors stayed away. They had demanded that the shares offered a discount to other listed oil majors, in part because of the political risk associated with the company. The fact it is now a tool in Saudi Arabia’s oil price war with Russia will have vindicated many in their decision to sit out the deal.

    31 Mar 2020
  • NMC's convertible bonds become worthless

    NMC's convertible bonds become worthless

    NMC Health’s $360m convertible bonds are trading at mere cents on the dollar, suggesting virtually no recovery value after the scandal-hit UAE hospitals group said on Tuesday it had discovered even more undisclosed debt.

    24 Mar 2020
  • Covid-19: a transparency test for borrowers

    Covid-19: a transparency test for borrowers

    These are testing times for corporations around the world as they find ways to navigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their businesses and debt profiles. Now more than ever, transparency from borrowers is absolutely key.

    24 Mar 2020
  • Bridgewater unwinds European shorts, other speculators attack bans

    Bridgewater unwinds European shorts, other speculators attack bans

    Prominent short sellers have criticised European financial regulators’ clampdown on short selling as being counterproductive. Meanwhile, US hedge fund Bridgewater Associates has been unwinding its multibillion short positions in European stocks, after price falls across indices on the continent in recent days.

    18 Mar 2020

  • Amigo Holdings shares and bonds dive as founder slams management

    Shares in guarantor loans company Amigo Holdings plunged more than 25% at the open on Thursday while its high yield bond, a 7.625% 2024, was marked down more than 30 points, as founder James Benamor quit the board, then published a lengthy blog post describing the company as "committing slow motion suicide". Amigo hit back quickly with a statement rejecting many of Benamor’s comments but prices failed to bounce back.

    05 Mar 2020

  • Pollen Street and investment trust board go to war over planned sale

    Pollen Street Capital and the board of an investment trust it advises are locked in a fight over the potential sale of the investment trust to Waterfall Asset Management, with the board describing Pollen Street’s data room as “of no meaningful use whatsoever and a complete waste of time”.

    05 Mar 2020
  • Bramson calls on Barclays to fire Staley

    Bramson calls on Barclays to fire Staley

    Activist investor Edward Bramson has called on Barclays not to renew chief executive Jes Staley’s contract over his links with dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also questions the bank’s corporate broking relationship with JP Morgan.

    02 Mar 2020
  • NMC Health converts tank after shares suspended

    NMC Health converts tank after shares suspended

    Shares in NMC Health, the London-listed United Arab Emirates hospitals operator, have been suspended. Its convertible bonds have fallen to around 50 cents on the dollar, after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) placed it under investigation and the company fired its chief executive.

    27 Feb 2020
  • Corbat’s chief of staff moves to Europe

    Corbat’s chief of staff moves to Europe

    Citi has reshuffled positions in its Europe, Middle East and Africa business, including forming a new position for crisis and climate risk and naming a new head for European businesses.

    27 Feb 2020
  • Yandex offers CB buyers taste of Russian tech

    Yandex offers CB buyers taste of Russian tech

    Yandex, the Russian internet company, reopened the equity-linked bond primary market in EMEA after more than a month without any new issues, with a $1.25bn five year convertible bond. The deal was priced at the midpoint of the terms, suggesting healthy demand.

    25 Feb 2020
  • Ferber lashes out at ESMA for Ophèle appointment

    Ferber lashes out at ESMA for Ophèle appointment

    MEP Markus Ferber has come out swinging at the European Securities and Markets Authority for appointing chief French regulator Robert Ophèle to temporarily chair its central counterparty (CCP) supervisory committee.

    24 Feb 2020
  • More Venezuela sanctions expected after Rosneft ban

    More Venezuela sanctions expected after Rosneft ban

    The US Treasury slapped sanctions on a Rosneft subsidiary on Tuesday for brokering sales of Venezuelan crude oil that supported president Nicolás Maduro’s government. Some expect this to be the first of similar actions, in the run up to the US presidential election.

    19 Feb 2020
  • Rosneft woes no block for $2bn Gazprom

    Rosneft woes no block for $2bn Gazprom

    Gazprom returned to the Eurobond market for the first time in a year on Tuesday, pulling in $4bn of orders at one stage in the pricing process, despite the US sanctioning a Rosneft subsidiary.

    19 Feb 2020
  • Staley’s Epstein links mar Barclays’ solid CIB results

    Staley’s Epstein links mar Barclays’ solid CIB results

    Barclays posted another strong set of returns from the corporate and investment bank (CIB) on Thursday, but the disclosure that UK regulators are investigating chief executive Jes Staley’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was described as a “red flag”.

    13 Feb 2020
  • KKR says no to NMC Health takeover bid

    KKR says no to NMC Health takeover bid

    US buyout group KKR has said it will not make a bid for the beleaguered UAE healthcare company NMC Health, dampening investor hopes of a rescue buyout and sending its shares and convertible bonds lower.

    11 Feb 2020
  • China’s Kangmei becomes first 2020 new defaulter

    China’s Kangmei becomes first 2020 new defaulter

    Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co, which committed a high-profile fraud last year, has become the first company to default onshore after Chinese New Year, having failed to repay a Rmb2.4bn ($342m) bond that was put back by its holders.

    04 Feb 2020
  • Trade bodies call for seven hour trading day in European equities

    Trade bodies call for seven hour trading day in European equities

    The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (Afme) and the Investment Association (IA) have proposed a one and a half hour reduction to the European equity market trading day, in response to a consultation launched by the London Stock Exchange in December.

    30 Jan 2020
  • Cross nomination as banking regulator makes MEPs cross

    Cross nomination as banking regulator makes MEPs cross

    The European Banking Authority’s proposed next executive director, Gerry Cross, was rejected by a committee of EU politicians on Thursday amid discontent over a perceived revolving door between the regulator and lobbyists.

    24 Jan 2020
  • MEPs rebuke banking regulator for revolving door

    MEPs rebuke banking regulator for revolving door

    Members of the European Parliament have hit out at the appointment of a top banking regulator as chief executive of the lobbyist group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe. Meanwhile, the regulator has nominated a former Afme lobbyist as his successor.

    17 Jan 2020
  • CFTC fines Mirae Asset Daewoo for spoofing

    CFTC fines Mirae Asset Daewoo for spoofing

    South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo has been ordered to pay $700,000 after a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation found one of its traders had engaged in spoofing.

    14 Jan 2020
  • NMC Health insiders sell £375m of stock

    NMC Health insiders sell £375m of stock

    Two major insiders offloaded £375m of stock in NMC Health, the troubled UAE-based private healthcare company to cover debts on Tuesday. The share sale, which was priced at a 19.7% discount to close, came weeks after a short selling attack on NMC Health by US activist hedge fund Muddy Waters, which caused the company to lose more than half of its market value.

    08 Jan 2020
  • NMC saga injects more fraud fear into equity-linked market

    NMC saga injects more fraud fear into equity-linked market

    Equity-linked bond investors were left hurting again this week after bonds and shares in NMC Healthcare, the London-listed Emirati private healthcare business, were hit by accusations of fraud by short seller Muddy Waters. This is another painful episode for the convertible bond market after its troubles with Wirecard earlier in 2019, and an earlier scandal at Steinhoff International.

    18 Dec 2019