UK Sovereign

The Bank of England's unveiling of plans to look into providing Shariah liquidity facilities for UK Islamic banks was one of the highlights at last week’s World Islamic Economic Forum in Dubai. It’s a great idea, but there’s just one problem – this should have been done ages ago.

European companies from beleaguered industries, new to the market or under investor pressure had better think twice before they enter a high yield market willing to teach them a lesson before the year ends.

UK challenger bank Virgin Money today restarted its planned London IPO, after having put the deal on hold last month, as a keenly awaited decision from the Bank of England reassured the issuer.

Asset managers River and Mercantile launched an IPO of a new fund on Tuesday, which will invest in micro cap firms.

Fever-Tree, a British firm that makes high end tonics for drinks, completed an IPO on London's AIM on Tuesday.

Santander has built on a strong showing in the European Central Bank’s comprehensive assessment with an impressive set of third quarter results, which included a big rise in earnings for its UK unit and investment bank.

Royal Dutch Shell, like most oil companies a dollar-based issuer, had already blessed the euro market with a €2bn issue this year, in March.

Ontex, the Belgian producer of disposable hygienic products for babies and adults, is beginning on Tuesday a roadshow in London for a €250m high yield bond, after completing its IPO in June.

Heathrow has signed a £2.15bn refinancing of its revolving credit and liquidity facilities with a syndicate of 22 banks. The loan comprises a £1.4bn revolving credit facility and a £750m standby liquidity facility.

Gruppo Sostenya’s subsidiary Waste Italia is hoping to issue its first bond late next week, once it has completed a roadshow that began on Monday in London with Jefferies as bookrunner.

HSBC’s third quarter profits and revenues were flat on last year's, as a punchy performance from the markets division was swallowed up by yet more conduct charges, including a $701m provision for payment protection insurance, a $550m US mortgage settlement, and a $378m provision against the Financial Conduct Authority’s foreign exchange investigation.

The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee released its updated guidance on leverage ratio requirements on Friday afternoon. The new ratios look positive for the UK's largest lenders, being considerably less demanding than the worst case scenarios and with all but one of the country's global banks already meeting their requirements.