UK

The global head of infrastructure at Crédit Agricole will replace Jean-Francois Balay as global head of debt optimisation and distribution, as Balay becomes global head of risk.

A March recovery in European bank stocks is looking short lived after Barclays warned investors that first quarter investment banking revenues would be poor, and Italian banks resumed their slide.

Cerberus Capital Management’s launch of a £6.2bn UK RMBS deal — the biggest European ABS sale since the financial crisis — has finally lifted the uncertainty that has been hanging over the UK ABS market since the Granite sale process began a year ago, according to market participants.

trueEX, the interest rate swap trading platform, has started supported market activity during London business hours as it looks to build its client base in Europe.

Much of the UK media just cannot leave the prospect of an uncovered — or, to use the common but incorrect parlance, “failed” — sovereign debt auction alone. Even when the UK Debt Management Office introduces a new mechanism to improve price discovery, stories are littered with references to boosting demand.

NYX Gaming Group, the Las Vegas digital game supplier, has announced the signing of £120m of leveraged loans backing its acquisition of UK peer, OpenBet. UK competitors William Hill and Sky Betting & Gaming are partially funding the £270m purchase.

Macquarie Capital has hired Warrick Booth as a managing director in European DCM.

The Financial Policy Committee noted that while UK bank capital has grown, the resilience of the system is threatened by banks’ impaired ability to generate internal capital in a low profit environment, minutes from the committee’s latest meeting show.

Option premiums have been very high in sterling pairs for some time, but analysts are at odds over whether maturities before the United Kingdom's referendum on European Union membership are correctly priced.

The UK Debt Management Office kicks off its 2016-17 funding programme by auctioning £5.25bn of debt this week, in what will be the first test of a mechanism it has introduced to enhance Gilt price discovery.

Lloyds defied mounting concerns over the outcome of this June’s UK referendum on whether to remain in the EU, raising €1.25bn of seven year funding on Monday. At the same time Leeds Building Society announced plans to issue its first deal in euros.

ICBC Standard Bank has hired Kent Hilen into the newly created role of head of international coverage, following the recent creation of an international DCM and syndicate operation.