UK

Xafinity, the UK actuarial services company, has completed its first capital increase since its £180m IPO on the London Stock Exchange in February 2017.

Westpac and Santander UK returned to the euro covered bond market on Thursday. Though early book momentum was marginally stronger in the Australian deal, the oversubscription ratios for both deals was rather low. Meanwhile, Stadshypotek showed that there is still good scope for further sterling covered bond supply.

Banks and other financial firms operate in complex lattices of regulation. But for any firm based in the UK and operating internationally, Brexit means they have no idea what regulations will apply, come March 2019. They cannot afford to do nothing, yet do not know what to plan for. As Nigel Owen reports, the response has been to plan for every scenario, including relocation from London.

The London Stock Exchange this week reaffirmed its commitment to open access under the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, as major European exchanges and clearing houses (CCPs) were granted exemptions from the requirement until July 3 2020.

China’s central bank will hold on to its 'neutral and prudent' monetary policy, the central bank of Pakistan encourages businesses to trade with China in renminbi, and the Chinese currency regains its position as the sixth most used global payments currency.

LCH Group and pan-European exchange Euronext have revealed their completion of a share swap, in which the exchange took a 2.3% stake in LCH Group in return for an 11.1% stake in France-based clearing house LCH SA.

LBBW and Barclays attracted strong demand for the first euro and sterling covered bond benchmarks of 2018 while ABN, Compagnie de Finacement Foncier (CFF) and Bank of Nova Scotia mandated leads for deals that suggested there would be a typically frenetic start to the year.

The European Commission has proposed to make new rules for investment firms, bringing systemically important institutions under tighter supervision.

Dealogic could be one of the last leveraged loan deals to close in 2017. With allocations of its dividend recapitalisation loans due on Friday, the deal is likely to cap what has been an all-time record year of issuance in the European leveraged loan market.

On Tuesday, ratings agency Moody’s announced it was changing its outlook to negative for four UK based water utilities and affirmed its existing negative outlook on two others.

London Stock Exchange Group chairman Donald Brydon won a confidence vote at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Tuesday, after an activist investor called for his sacking in November.

Olivier Grimonpont, veteran of bond clearing platform Euroclear, will step up to the role of CEO of GlobalCollateral, a collateral management venture between Euroclear and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.