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◆ Clean-up calls set to change how banks manage senior debt
◆ The Bank of England's SSA bond booster
◆ What is behind booming corporate bond issuance in sterling
A lot of expensive bank bonds, issued when rates and inflation were high and spreads wide, have call dates coming up, meaning issuers will be keen to replace them with cheaper debt at current market prices. To do so, they may completely change how they deal with investors when they do buy-backs.
Many of these bonds contain what is known as a clean-up call, which allows the issuer to redeem the rest of the bonds at par once it has competed a tender offer for them, but usually only if it has managed to buy back more than a threshold amount.
This puts investors into a dilemma because the price they will be offered in the tender will most likely be better than where they can sell the bonds in the secondary market and what they will get if their bonds are taken back in the clean-up call.
It's a technique more commonly used in US markets, and for sub-benchmark sized or subordinated European bank bonds. But now the stakes are being raised as the market contemplates its use in replacing expensive, benchmark-sized senior bonds from issuers that rely on wholesale bond funding. We explore what is at stake for issuers and investors alike.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England has started to accept a wider range of public sector bonds as collateral. This will boost the bank treasury bid for sterling SSA bonds. We discuss which new issuers it might attract to the market.
Finally, corporate sterling bond issuance has been on a tear this year. We look at who has been issuing, who hasn't, and what the pipeline looks like for the rest of the year.
Now read on:
Senior bond buy-backs herald new era for European FIG market
Sterling SSA issuers rush the queue as BoE repo change beckons new names
IG corporate bond market eyes rebound in sterling issuance -
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◆ How UK's likely next PM can woo the bond market
◆ Fibre ABS coming to Europe
◆ The rise of the corporate Kangaroo
Andy Burnham looks set to become the next UK prime minister, following the resignation of Keir Starmer on Monday. But how will the new man in 10 Downing Street get along with the bond market? One of his predecessors, Liz Truss, managed fixed income relations so badly, it cost her her job and made her term the shortest in the history of the office.
The early signs were not promising. Burnham notoriously said the country should not be "in hock" to the bond market. Perhaps a strange choice of phrase when talking about debt instruments and he has since appeared to row back from the comments, which were intepreted as a fearlessness over borrowing and spending.
So how can Burnham manage the business of government while not blowing up the Gilt market? We have some suggestions.
Meanwhile, the need for digital infrastructure growth in Europe is acute. The capital markets will be vital in funding it and now it looks like a new asset class is on the way — asset-backed securities secured on fibre optic cable networks. We investigate.
We also discuss the rise and rise of the Australian dollar bond market and how global corporations are turning to it increasingly as a source of capital.
Now read on:
Burnham needs a cause — two would please the bond market
First European fibre securitization could arrive within 18 months
Offshore corporate borrowers leap into Aussie dollar mart -
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◆ Iran peace deal in sight but where are the Middle East issuers?
◆ Why primary capital markets will be slow adopters of DLT
◆ Why French covered bond issuance has slowed and why it might pick up
The Iran war has kept the Middle East's bond issuers largely at bay but with the path to peace now clearer, issuance conditions have improved. But even this might not be enough to tempt borrowers back to the primary bond market en masse. We discover why.
We also analyse a new report on the digitalisation of wholesale finance and discuss why capital markets might be one of the last bits of finance to go digital.
French issuers are among the biggest users of the covered bond market but so far this year, they are way down on the volumes they have issued compared to last year. We examine what has been going on and uncover the reasons why there could be more French deals in the coming months.
And we also talk about the GlobalCapital Bond Awards 2026 held this week in London, one of our biggest events of the year, and about some of the awards we handed out on the night.
Now read on:
Gulf markets lap up peace memo but public issuance unlikely to come roaring back
Primary capital markets could be among last to adopt DLT, report finds
Core covered issuers to step forward in second half of year
GlobalCapital Bond Awards 2026: winners revealed -
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◆ What now for European Secured Notes ater long-awaited debut?
◆ The mood in European securitization amid MFS fallout and reg reform
◆ Digitalisation of bond market is up to the regulators
Bpifrance achieved a world first this week, pricing the inaugural European Secured Note. The deal was a success but it has taken about a decade to get the product from concept to market.
The question is now where next for ESNs? This twist on a covered bond has clear applications as a capital market instrument that can help fund the real economy but it could be argued that its future lies in the hands of the regulators and how they choose to treat it. We discuss the different paths ESNs might be led down and the alternatives open to issuers.
Meanwhile, GlobalCapital's European securitization team is back from Global ABS in Barcelona — that market's major gathering for the year. We find out what is giving the market cause for fear and cheer.
We discuss how specialist lenders, banks and funds are adjusting to prevent or mitigate another scandal like the one that befell Market Financial Solutions earlier this year, and how the securitization market feels about the direction of regulatory reform.
Sticking with the topic of all-powerful financial regulators, we also discuss why it is they rather than the technologists that will decide the fate of bond market digitialisation.
Now read on:
ESNs arrive: regulatory recognition may follow French first
European Secured Notes needn’t rush to Brussels
Funds eye ABF market share as banks pull back
ABS conference delegates emit mixed feelings of trepidation and optimism
On DLT, regulators could bring order — or disruption -
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◆ Credit card ABS grows as securitization sets off for Barcelona
◆ What can scupper insurance tier two spree
◆ SSAs appear unwilling to test Treasury spread record
A deal from Vanquis Bank, a securitization of credit card receivables, is the latest deal in a revival of an asset class that has been morinund since the 2008 financial crisis. We examine why this market is making a comeback now and what makes it different this time.
We also discuss our sister podcast, Another Fine Mezz's plans for a live show at next week's Global ABS event in Barcelona, which is the major industry gathering for the European securitization industry, and look ahead to the conference.
Insurance companies have been on a spree of tier two issuance lately. We explain why and discuss why investors might be reaching their limit and what issuers can do about it.
Finally, we return to a hot topic from last week's show — whether a public sector bond issuer can price a deal at a tighter yield than US Treasuries. It appears that there is some reticence among issuers to be the first, even though doing so would be a major milestone. We examine why that is and explain why it might still happen over the summer anyway.
Now read on:
Vanquis fuels bank-led credit card ABS comeback
Insurer tier two parade begins to test investors' limits
On the banks of the Rubicon: hopes for an SSA to price through Treasuries fade
Pricing an SSA through Treasuries would be a warning not a trophy -
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◆ Venezuela embarks on historic debt restructuring
◆ Canada suggests covered bond boost
◆ European Secured Notes are here. Regulate themVenezuela's debt restructuring is getting underway, nine years after the country defaulted and just months after the US removed its former president, Nicolas Maduro. The amount of debt involved is expected to be huge but no one outside of Venezuela knows quite how much.
That's not the only unusual thing about the exercise. We discuss what looks likely to be the biggest sovereign debt restructuring since Greece — the unknowns, the unique complexities, where there is hope for Venezuela and its creditors and the rare involvement of the US government.
Canada is considering easing up on the regulatory treatment of overseas covered bonds. We explore what this means for Canada's banks, international covered bond issuers and whether it advances the cause for the regulatory equivalence between different financial jurisdictions that could unlock growth for the asset class.
Finally, the European Secured Note, a long-touted idea to use covered bond techniques to fund lending to different sorts of assets is about to make an appearance in the bond market. We discuss Bpifrance's pioneering deal, which will boast loans made to small and medium-sized companies as well as mid-cap French firms as collateral, and argue that regulators need to decide how to treat ESNs if they are to have a future as a funding tool for the EU economy.
Now read on:
Long road ahead as Venezuela preps jumbo debt restructuring
Canadian reform may help level global covered bond playing field
First ESN arrives at last — regulators should bless it
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◆ Supranationals and agencies prepare to achieve the previously unthinkable
◆ Leveraged loans versus private credit and their effect on CLOs
◆ A new dawn for dollar covered bonds and UK equity market structure
Bond issuance from supranational and agency issuers is rampant. And not only are volumes high but the bonds are flying too, attracting large order books, being priced with little if any issue premium and then performing in the secondary market.
There has been a notable resurgence in dollar issuance in particular, even as issuers price within a hair's breadth of US Treasury yields. That has set the market alight with chatter once more that an issuer could be about to price a bond through what is commonly held to be the most risk-free asset on the planet. We explain the dynamics at work and identify what deal from which issuer could achieve this milestone.
At the lower end of the credit spectrum, borrowers are making choices between going to the private credit market for funding or the broadly syndicated leveraged loan market. We discuss the choices borrowers face and the implications for the collateralised loan obligation market.
The dollar market hosted a rarity this week: a covered bond from a European bank. As investors look for alternative highly-rated securities in the currency to Treasuries, we investigate whether we will see much more covered bond issuance and what might drive or prevent it.
Finally, we looked into what trade bodies are demanding of the Financial Conduct Authority from its consultation on the structure of UK equity markets. We examine their arguments for a consolidated tape and where trading should be encouraged to take place.
Now read on:
SSAs glow in sunshine of demand, pushing spreads ever closer to Treasuries
Credit quality diverges, with CLOs getting better names, private credit the rest
Bawag’s first dollar covered bond shines light on niche market
Trade bodies to FCA: leave trading alone but give us a great equities tape
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◆ The prospects for sterling bond issuance amid UK political upheaval
◆ A new issuer and a new securitization from the SSA sector
◆ Ontario's plans for a resilience bond
The mice turned on the cat in UK politics this week, causing volatility in the bond market and a headache for issuers of sterling bonds. Prime minister Keir Starmer is under fire from Labour Party colleagues and faces a challenge to his leadership following a grim set of local election results.
Uncertainty over whether there will be a change of PM and what the fiscal policies of a new one will be is roiling the Gilt market. But what of other issuers in sterling? We discover there is plenty of demand for bonds at these higher yields, but whether issuers have any interest in funding at those prices is another matter.
The multilateral development bank bond market is about to welcome a new entrant: the African Development Fund. We discuss what the ADF is, how much it will issue, when it will start and why it is coming to the bond market.
Elsewhere in the MDB sector, the International Finance Corporation has executed a novel securitization long in the works. We analyse the deal, who bought it and what the future will be for this method by which MDBs can manage their balance sheets.
Finally, Ontario this week made its pitch to host another new multilateral bank: the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. To display the province's credentials, its premier Doug Ford revealed it would issue a "resilience" bond. Resilience is becoming a huge topic in the capital markets but the deal would be the first of its kind, so we looked into its progress to market and what it will be used to fund.
Now read on:
Sterling market braces for volatility as Starmer drama erupts
The quiet volatility of a noisy Gilt market
African Development Fund could issue $4bn over three years
IFC’s first synthetic securitization powers up EM trade finance
Ontario targets first 'resilience' bond as it pitches to host DSR Bank
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◆ EU regs plan sparks debate over treatment of secured borrowing
◆ Blistering corporate and FIG issuance but why are premiums rising in one market but not the other?
◆ UK Renters' Rights Act to impact UK buy-to-let RMBS market
Plans to change the capital risk-weightings banks must apply to some of their securitization holidings caused consternation in the covered bond market this week. Both securitization and covered bonds are forms of debt secured on a pool of assets — often of the same type, such as mortgages. Of course there are big differences between the two asset classes as well.
Fresh from the European Covered Bond Council's conference in Norway this week, we delve into the controversy and what the outcome will likely be for the way covered bonds are treated under the rules, as well as securitizations.
Another two markets that are close cousins are the European financial institution and investment grade corporate bond markets. Both have been very busy lately, awash with deals. But while new issue premiums are rising in the corporate bond market, that is not the case in the FIG market. We discuss why that is and what the pipeline looks like in each for the rest of the month.
Finally, we discuss another set of rules affecting securitization. The Renters' Rights Act recently came into force in England. The changes it demands to the way landlords operate will have a knock-on effect on the UK's buy-to-let residential mortgage-backed securities market. We examine what those will be.
Now read on:
Experts play down European snub to covered bonds
Who's afraid of securitization?
Fearless FIG investors gobble up latest wave of heavy issuance
Corporate issuers pay up in euros as bond wave floods market
Fear not the hyperscalers
UK BTL RMBS to persist despite Renters' Rights Act
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◆ Powell Fed era ends with split decision ◆ Bank capital to lead Gulf bond revival ◆ SSAs, corporates and FIG face busy May
President Trump appointed Jay Powell as Federal Reserve chair — then hounded him continually to ease monetary policy and ended up launching a criminal investigation against him. What could possibly go wrong for Kevin Warsh?
The central question for markets is whether he will have an independent mind or be Trump’s puppet. So far, Warsh is getting the benefit of the doubt.
After 62 days without a public bond deal from the Gulf, Emirates NBD reopened the market, surprising observers by bringing a deeply subordinated additional tier one capital deal.
It could be more than a one-off. A lot of banks in the region have capital securities to call and replace, and these are likely to bulk large as issuance gets back into gear.
Across the public sector, financial institution and corporate bond markets, May is set to be exceptionally busy with issuance, but each sector is taking the prospect in a different way.
Corporates are gung-ho, while SSAs are still gripped by the urge to avoid risk by funding as much as possible early. Financial instutions have borrowing to catch up on, but are close to a cliff edge. Spreads are ultra-tight, but nasty spectres could easily spook the market.
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◆ Fast money reverses out of SSA bond market
◆ CLO managers face risky ramp startegy
◆ Corporate hybrid bond market runs hot despite volatility
The rise of hedge funds as dedicated investors in the supranational and agency bond market was one of the biggest changes in that sector at the start of the year. But now they are pulling back from new issue syndications. We examine why market volatility resulting from the Iran war has sounded the retreat and also assess the impact their withdrawal is having on issuers' pricing power.
Meanwhile, the war in Iran is one of a number of factors affecting leveraged loan pricing. It has given CLO managers a chance to make more money, if they can get their hands on enough cheap loans to ramp-up the collateral backing their deals fast enough. But, as we discover, that brings them a whole new set of risks, especially in financial markets which react, as one source put it this week "tweet by tweet".
Finally, we ask why investment grade companies are having such success in the hybrid bond market. Counterintuitively, issuers are achieving debut deals and tight pricing on their riskiest form of debt just at a time when the war is making other markets far less certain. We discuss the dynamics at play.
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◆ Dazzling feats of issuance in public sector bond market but signs of wariness persist
◆ How banks have derisked May issuance
◆ Corporate bond investors stick around
So many bond issuance records tumbled in a busy week in the primary market that to some it felt like we were back in January. That is typically the busiest month of the year and the 2026 edition was particularly successful for issuers. But scratch beneath the surface and it was clear that issuers were having to be quite cautious about how they approached investors.
This week, we discuss the tactics public sector issuers are using that are driving investors into their deals and those they are not deploying, at least just yet.
We also look at how banks have brought forward issuance, pricing some spectacular deals by doing so, to take advantage of improved investor sentiment resulting from the Iran war ceasefire. We debate what this means for the rest of the spring for banks issuing in the primary market.
Finally, we looked at the European corporate bond market where issuers also took full advantage of the sentiment boost, allowing us to examine the way different companies are approaching investors and what makes for a successul new issue.
Now read on:
SSA orderbooks bulge like it's January but sensitivity and ‘insecurity’ remain
SSA issuers that can offer clarity will thrive in uncertainty
Surging demand for euro FIG credit eases pressure for clashes in May
Waterfall of sticky investors cascades into euro IG corporate bond market -
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◆ Gulf issuers turn to private markets
◆ Public sector and corporate borrowers to bring forward plans
◆ Banks re-enter covered and unsecured funding markets
US vice-president JD Vance set off on Friday for Pakistan (pictured) for peace talks to end the war with Iran. The talks are part of a two-week ceasefire, announced on Tuesday, that rejuvenated the primary bond market. We spent much of this week's podcast discussing how public sector issuers, banks and investment grade companies would be altering their bond funding plans to take advantage of this positive but unpredictable opportunity to raise capital.
Certainly the ceasefire boosted issuance activity, following Wednesday's rally in asset prices. Banks were more active in unsecured and covered bond funding and there is an urgency among market participants for IG companies and sovereigns, supranationals and agencies to use the time wisely to bring deals while they can. But as we discover, it is not quite as simple as showing up with open orderbooks, given the recent disruption to markets and what lies in store in the months ahead.
We also discussed how the Iran war is the latest situation to arise from Donald Trump's second term as US president to showcase the euro market as a solid, reliable alternative to dollar funding as it begins to attract more issuance from Asia as well as the US.
But for borrowers in the Middle East, public markets seem beyond the pale even with the ceasefire in place. We examine how several of the region's issuers have turned to private placements to fill their coffers.
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◆ Middle East capital securities will need to be refinanced ◆ Supranationals, agencies and municipalities have had a good war ◆ New ideas to promote covered bonds
The central group of bond issuers in the Middle East are the banks. They are well capitalised, with clean balance sheets and often high credit ratings. But none has come to the market since the war began at the end of February.
With fighting raging and a recession predicted, banks’ secondary spreads have widened, especially on the large quantities of subordinated capital they have issued.
That is manageable, and the banks can stay out of the market for a while. But at some point they will need to return — assuming they stick to their word and call capital bonds at the first opportunity.
Where are the safe haven assets? US Treasuries and Bunds are the obvious ones, but the war has made them sell off too, as investors price in rate rises. One market that has stayed remarkably resilient is non-sovereign public sector bonds.
Despite all the noise, investors and issuers have remained calm throughout March, continuing to do deals at sensible spreads — and April could be busy.
Covered bonds rely on a web of regulation — not just the laws that establish them in many countries, but rules governing how much capital banks have to hold against them and how they can use them for repo funding.
Several major regulatory changes are in the works at once, including on risk weightings, cross-border equivalence and blockchain. And the industry has an idea of its own — a pan-European mortgage guarantee.
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◆ Outsiders open EM investors’ wallets ◆ European banks let their hair down in dollar market, still shy in euros ◆ Digital innovation in Frankfurt with DZ Bank
Angola and African telecom company Helios Towers were hardly the issuers anyone expected to restart bond issuance from central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The Middle East war stopped all sales for three weeks, and bankers were looking for a mainstream, investment grade issuer to reopen the market.
But this week it was speculative grade African borrowers — as well as the Serbian republic within Bosnia-Herzegovina — that performed that duty, with successful deals that showed emerging market bond investors are willing to buy.
Although the three issuers were all from the risky end of the spectrum, they are protected from the war’s effects. Whether investors are willing to steer closer to the Gulf’s woes will be tested in the coming weeks.
Another restart happened in euro bonds for European financial institutions. The market has been bare of new issues all month. For a variety of reasons European banks have avoided their home market. Dealmaking picked up this week, with Bank of Ireland showing the way in euros — but most of the action was still in dollars.
Frankfurt is an important node on Europe’s capital market blockchain network, and this week Matthias Bergner, DZ Bank’s group treasurer, joins the podcast to discuss DZ’s latest pilot digital bond, sold to KfW. DZ reckons it is the first bond in which the full lifecycle is on chain.
Digitalising the bond market - sponsored interview with KfW
In an interview on the GlobalCapital podcast this week, KfW's Tim Meirer and Bert Staufenbiel discuss how to move to the next stage in introducing distributed ledger technology to the bond market. They are convinced it can save time, friction, cost and risk.
Interoperability of systems all along the value chain is central to the effort. Meirer and Staufenbiel highlight four essential avenues for progress: open standards, public-private partnerships, modular designs and continuous dialogue.
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◆ What strikes on energy infrastructure in the Middle East mean for emerging market bonds
◆ Why issuing in dollars has become so dicey for supranationals and agencies
◆ Europe's advantage in the private credit metldown
This week we looked into some of the direct and indirect consequences the war with Iran is having on bond markets.
Emerging market issuers are among the most susceptible to commodity price volatility. So with strikes this week against energy infratsucture in the Middle East, we investigated what soaring oil and gas prices mean for this group.
We also discussed the disruption for sovereign, supranational and agency borrowers in one of their core fudning markets — the dollar. We examine why the war has made doing a deal is proving so risky that many issuers are steering clear of what is supposed to be their biggest pool of investment.
Finally, we revisited the world of private credit to discuss the impact of falling valuations of loans made to software companies and how Europe's private credit funds are faring better than their US counterparts.
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◆ Hyperscaler sets new standard for European corporate bond market
◆ What it will it take to get a bank to issue in euros again
◆ Iran war could reshape ultra-competitive Gulf capital markets
For bond issuers to keep away from the primary bond market after a shock, like the outbreak of the war with Iran, is not unusual. But it is when only one group is steering clear when every other is issuing.
For understandable reasons, there have been no bonds from the Middle East since the US and Israel began their attacks, of course. But there has been issuance from elsewhere in emerging markets. That only leaves banks issuing in euros as yet to register a deal in that time.
It's even more curious when they are issuing in dollars and printing covered bonds. We examine why they are holding back and discuss how they might return.
There was still plenty for investors to buy in Europe's credit markets, however. Not least was Amazon's multi-tranche blockbuster, its debut in euros. We uncover what the deal meant for investment grade corporate issuance in Europe.
Finally, we discussed the changing investment banking landscape in the Gulf and how the war raises fresh questions about how sustainable the ledning and bond business is in the region.
Click here to find out more about our GC Live event on corporate hybrid capital, taking palce in London on March 24.
Now read on...
Market debates FIG funding future in euros as primary drought extends
Amazon's €14.5bn money magnet redefines what is possible in credit
Iran war brings Gulf capital markets' competitiveness into question
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◆ How banks and bankers are operating in the region under threat of military escaltion
◆ Bond issuance to resume — but how?
◆ Dwindling fee pool poses questions over long-term future for banks
The Middle East bond market as been one of growing volumes for the last decade and banks both local and international have been pouring resources into the region to grab a slice of the action. But the outbreak of the Iran war last week has temporarily shuttered issuance.
We reveal what bond bankers in the financial centres of Dubai and beyond are saying about their market and how they are operating amid the conflict.
We also talk about which issuers could reopen the primary market in the Gulf, when they might be able to do it and what they will have to pay to do so.
But we also take a longer term view. The Middle East bond market may be busy but it is also one of seemingly diminishing fees. We ask how long banks and their staff can commit to such an enterprise, especially when the security risk of dong so appears to have ramped up.
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◆ UAE issuers leave emerging markets lable behind
◆ What Blue Owl can teach about private credit for the masses
◆ A bump in the road for UK bridging lenders on the way to securitization
Abu Dhabi was in the bond market this week just two days after JP Morgan confirmed that issuers from the UAE would be removed from its benchmark Emerging Markets Bond Indices (EMBI) by the end of March. We look into what EMBI exclusion means for Abu Dhabi and other UAE credits.
We also discussed the recent situation at Blue Owl, which met with a wall of redemption requests from investors worried about the imapct of AI on the software companies that its private credit funds lend to. We discover what lessons private credit and investors can learn about investing in illiquid assets.
Finally, we discuss the future of UK bridging loan companies. It is a market awash with small lenders, two of which recently went into administration. But it had also been an asset class that had appeared to be making inroads into securitization. We look at the best way forward for the industry in light of those developments.
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◆ How AI threat to software biz threatens stockmarket listings...
◆ ... and collaterlised loan obligation market
◆ AT1 market hits new record tight but buyers turn away
Investors are wary that recent AI upgrades — notably Anthropic's latest Claude Cowork agent — are a threat to the software as a service (Saas) sector. This is causing headaches for Saas businesses looking to do an IPO this year as well as the private equity companies that often sponsor them. We examine the threat and what it means for equity capital markets.
Loans made to software companies are also a big part of the collateral for CLOs and here too underlying asset prices are suffering as the same AI peril prompts a cheapening in their value. But that's not the CLO market's only problem. The value of loans made to chemical companies is also on the slide. We discuss the impact on CLOs as an asset class.
Finally, after an incredible run in the additional tier one (AT1) market, a bank has issued one with a reset spread tighter than the psychological barrier of mid-swaps plus 300bp. But there are signs that the market is becoming too rich for some investors. We take a look at this week's landmark deal and look at where next for AT1 issuance, the most subordinated layer of banks' capital structures.
- Visa fler
