UK

One of BNP Paribas' most senior debt bankers, Tim Drayson, has left the firm.

Virgin Money has mandated leads for a new UK prime RMBS deal from its established Gosforth shelf, which will be issued in multiple currencies and will look to attract US investors with a 144A registration.

As news of the UK and US investigation into SSA market trading practices broke, the SSA market split over whether the banks at the heart of the probe would lose primary business.

Lloyds issued the first sterling covered bond of the year and was quickly followed by two overseas issuers who priced deals at successively wider levels.

Investigators are finally baring their teeth at the bond markets, after dozens of other post-crisis scandals, with a probe into the supranational and agency market that has engulfed four banks.

Standard Chartered has announced that the group’s deputy chief executive officer will retire from the role and step down from the board at the end of April.

Mounting pressure on UK chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne to preserve London’s place as a global financial centre may have played a part in the Financial Conduct Authority interim chief executive’s decision, announced on Thursday, to withdraw her application for the permanent position.

EasyJet, the UK budget airline, has mandated three banks for its first ever bond issue, and will run a roadshow next week.

TDR Capital has set bank meetings for January 12 to market a £745m debt package for its minority investment in Euro Garages, the UK’s second largest independent petrol station operator.

2015 will be remembered as a year when volatility returned to financial markets. With strong technical buffers to the trading range of US and European equity markets going into 2016, short volatility strategies look set to be compelling money earners in the year ahead, writes Andrew Barber.

A member of Mizuho International’s bond syndicate team has left the firm.

Westpac NZ launched a sterling senior bond on Wednesday and Santander UK will soon follow with a debut holdco deal, as FIG's first signs of life in 2016 favour the UK market.