UK

Even with the flood of bankers leaving banks to join the fintech revolution — in which it seems every move has some mind-blowing potential impact on the future of finance — former Royal Bank of Scotland banker Richard Bartlett’s move to start-up ‘social impact’ short-term lender Uberima is unique.

More than $1.5bn worth of block trades completed within the space of three days this week showed that the summer break in European equity capital markets is well and truly over. The deals included two big Swedish sell-downs by EQT worth more than $500m, and a Sfr539m sale of Straumann Group shares.

UK distressed debt buyer Arrow Global this week returned to the market, after selling euros in April, with a refinancing deal to repay in full its 7.875% 2020 notes.

Santander UK issued a highly oversubscribed senior unsecured euro benchmark from its holding group entity (holdco) on Thursday with virtually no concession, further illustrating the market’s desperate thirst for this higher yielding asset class.

Sirius Minerals, the company developing a potash mine in North Yorkshire, has mandated six banks to arrange $2.6bn financing for the project.

Maybank Kim Eng, the securities arm of the Malaysian lender, has added to its team in the UK with a slew of hires.

Apax Partners and Guardian Media Group have raised £200m by selling down 20% of Ascential, the British information and events company, via an accelerated bookbuild launched on Wednesday evening.

The Financial Stability Board has singled out removing barriers to over-the-counter derivatives reporting as a priority for G20 leaders ahead of their summit in Hangzhou this weekend.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) announced on Wednesday that it will hold two long end syndications in the fourth quarter of 2016, in response to calls from Gilt-edged market makers and investors.

Jan Luthman, co-head of equities and a partner at UK asset manager Liontrust, is retiring after nearly 30 years in the investments industry.

JP Morgan has lost Singapore-based Chetan Singh to UK insurer Aviva, where he will lead mergers and acquisitions globally.

Patrick Han has joined Maybank Kim Eng in London as chief executive officer, a role that gives him oversight of the firm's UK operations.