UK

Yorkshire Building Society issued a €500m six year covered bond almost flat to its curve with strong demand on Monday. At the same time Commonwealth Bank of Australia priced a €750m seven year, a solid trade but one that lacked sparkle.

Aston Martin, the UK luxury car maker, made savings of up to 400bp on Friday as it wrapped up its latest bond refinancing bond. Investors came along for the ride but found it a bit of a squeeze.

Micro Focus, the UK legacy software firm, has launched the $5bn loan to finance its acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business — the biggest new money loan in the European leveraged loan market this year.

Yorkshire Building Society could kick-start covered bond issuance in the second quarter, as it lines up to sell its first deal in the format since late 2015.

Renminbi’s share of international payments rises slightly in February, Liaoning free trade zone (FTZ) allows foreign investors to build renminbi pool, and the Chinese president Xi Jinping to meet with his US counterpart for the first time. Plus a recap of this week’s coverage.

The Basel Committee said on Wednesday that it had not figured out how the regulatory capital regime could deal with the IFRS 9 accounting rules set to come in next year and backed a transitional period, as few banks are ready for the ‘capital shock’ that could result.

The European Commission delivered the final blow to a proposed merger between Europe's biggest stock exchange operators, Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange, on Wednesday, but some market observers wondered whether the parties themselves had gone cold on the deal.

The Bank of England’s new biennial ‘exploratory’ scenario (BES) suggests stress testing has entered an improved and more mature phase, putting the spotlight on business models as well as capital adequacy.

Shares in BioPharma Credit, the UK closed end investment fund focused on the debt of life sciences companies, closed 2.9% above their IPO price on Thursday when they started trading in London on Thursday after the company finished its $762m IPO.

UK hospital funding vehicle St James Oncology Finance has brought perhaps the most unusual trade of the week in the corporate bond market, printing a triple tranche sterling bond that included a US private placement and inflation linked debt.

Santander UK opened books for a new sterling additional tier one (AT1) transaction on Thursday, marketing the deal against a backdrop of calm following the UK’s decision to trigger Article 50.

The UK will run one syndicated bond issue in the first quarter of its 2017-18 financial year, as Gilts shrugged off the triggering of the country’s journey towards the European Union exit and a vote in the Scottish Parliament calling for a second independence referendum.