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Arrangers of Reliance Industries’ debut Schuldschein have sent investors a statement saying that demand “considerably exceeds the initial volume” target of €150m. The success of the transaction came as a surprise to some of the arrangers’ competitors, but is considered a good sign for the market.

Société Générale is looking at cutting around 1,600 jobs across the group, while also closing its over-the-counter (OTC) commodities business and proprietary trading firm.

Yorkshire Building Society is looking to buy back a series of tier twos before their first call date, after Coventry Building Society showed last month that the UK regulator was more relaxed than expected around what firms can do with their capital. But rather than replacing the bonds with an instrument of equal standing, Yorkshire is going one step further than its peer and proposing to issue its first non-preferred senior notes.

Saudi Aramco is making a splash with its bond market debut, gathering a staggering $85bn of orders for a six tranche deal expected to exceed $10bn.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is due to hold a beauty parade for its debut bond that is expected to be issued later this year in a dollar global format, GlobalCapital understands.

Activist shareholder Edward Bramson’s Sherborne Investors Management has made a detailed critique of Barclays’ markets business in a letter penned to shareholders, saying it did not have enough support from asset management or corporate banking operations to work well.

Bookrunners on Dubai-based payments company Network International will close books on the IPO a day early, and have increased the size of the offering, after receiving huge demand for stock.

The executive chairman of Nomura’s Middle East and North Africa business is among those set to leave the firm as part of a big restructuring. Senior bankers in EMEA capital solutions and convertibles are at risk of redundancy

Data modelling firm Simudyne, which uses an innovative approach to simulating market scenarios, has said its technology will help banks execute trades, as different asset classes grapple with algorithmic trading and risk predictions. The company has closed a new round of fundraising led by Barclays.

Amir Hoveyda, UBS’s global head of debt capital markets, is stepping down from his job at the firm.

UniCredit will seek to ensure it hits its 2019 financial targets before going ahead with a bid for Germany’s Commerzbank, if the latter’s talks with Deutsche Bank collapse.

The European Stability Mechanism is spearheading a plan to create a new digital platform for launching public sector bonds in euros. The system, which ESM wants to launch in 2020, is named the European Distribution of Debt Instruments (EDDI). It could end up replacing some of the functions of investment banks and clearing houses.