UK

Credit Suisse has bulked up its covered bond team with a new hire who will join FIG syndicate.

Berenberg has hired a new senior UK economist, after Rob Wood jumped ship to Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this year.

In this round-up, China's cross border RMB trade settlement falls in July, Seoul plans to launch RMB/Won futures in October, Moscow Exchange sees growing CNY/Rouble spot and swaps turnover, China's central bank issued its yearly financial stability report, and the UK's foreign secretary said during a visit to China that London would keep supporting RMB internationalisation initiatives.

On July 15, 2015, Afren announced that the expected level of near term production would likely be materially lower than what had been announced alongside the proposed restructuring on March 13.

The situation was no longer tenable. Afren’s management determined that it needed more money, and a debt restructuring, to stay afloat. In January, Afren said it had begun talking to creditors about its capital structure.

July 31 is Afren’s day of disaster. In 2014, on that day, the London-listed oil explorer revealed a corruption scandal that reached the highest echelons of its management. Its chief executive and chief operating officer were suspended, the share price faltered, and trust in the business was shaken.

Frustrated with the terms of the restructuring, and distrustful of Afren and its bondholders, Afren Legal Action tried to revitalise hopes of finding a buyer for Afren. A bid for Afren had been widely considered a good solution to its problems, going back to 2014. Afren, once a poster child for Africa’s energy sector, was potentially still an attractive asset.

Asog was just one Afren shareholder force jockeying for position. As the share price fell, institutional investors, which had dominated Afren’s register, sold some of their shares to other kinds of investor.

On July 31, 2015, Afren went into administration. There was no public outcry, though several national papers in the UK ran the news. Afren had never been a household name.

The Bank of Scotland has become the first bank to not win approval to switch some of its covered bonds from a hard to a soft bullet repayment.

It has been a busy week for Markit’s expansion plans, with the company agreeing to buy CoreOne Technologies and launching an FX trade confirmation service.

There aren’t many corporate insolvencies that would make a good movie. But any scriptwriters out there wanting to emulate the success of the Enron film should read our coverage of Afren this week.