Dutch bank ING Group said it has scrapped the sale of its Russian business to Global Development JSC because there was "no realistic expectation" that the deal agreed 14 months ago would go ahead.

US president Donald Trump loves a weekend social media post, repeatedly divulging market-moving information on these supposed days of rest ever since ordering US forces to start bombing Iran on February 28, the last Saturday of the month.

Convulsions in global bond markets dealt a blow to banks’ interest rate trading desks in March following the outbreak of the Iran war, inflicting losses on some and taking the shine off what had otherwise promised to be another stellar quarter for macro traders.

First-quarter fees from equity capital markets activity surged 49% to more than US$5bn and a rush of takeovers in late March lifted the value of announced M&A above US$1.2trn for a second consecutive quarter, as war in the Middle East made only a temporary dent on dealmaking appetite.

Covered bond issuers led euro FIG supply on Tuesday with DZ Hyp and VUB Banka raising a combined €1.75bn when the focus was firmly on the looming update on Iran from president Donald Trump and its potential impact on markets. 

European corporates are holding their breath to see if US president Donald Trump follows through with his threat to attack Iran's civil infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz isn't reopened by his deadline later on Tuesday, before committing to any public markets activity.

Amid the trickle of FIG supply that hit the market on Tuesday in the prelude to president Donald Trump’s update on Iran, Belfius Bank stole the limelight with a €750m six-year senior non-preferred offering that was five times subscribed. This was the Belgian issuer's first euro senior foray since November.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group has sought bondholders' approval to relax loan-to-value covenants on debt issued by Porteast Investment after a sharp fall in Tata Consultancy Services shares pushed leverage towards trigger levels, according to people familiar with the matter.

ClimateWise, an insurance grouping on climate and nature-related risks that is approaching 20 years of operation, has named Ian Branagan of RenaissanceRe and Tokio Marine Kiln’s Vivek Syal as co-chairs.

French private debt and equity firm Eurazeo's Planetary Boundaries fund has secured more than half of its €750m target, which it intends to keep in place as fundraising continues. 

Germany's KfW, one of the world's largest green bond issuers, printed €14bn of green bonds in 2025 and expanded its range of issuing currencies. 

The New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency has priced its second euro benchmark, having made its debut in the market last year.

Atlas Energy Solutions responded to strong investor demand to raise an upsized US$390m from the sale of a five-year convertible bond, providing the oilfield services company low-cost capital to fund its pivot to power generation for AI.

Madison Air Solutions launched its US$2.2bn NYSE IPO early Monday that will allow it to recapitalize following a recent acquisition, becoming the latest industrial with ties to AI infrastructure to fund in the new issue market this year. 

National Healthcare Properties filed for a Nasdaq IPO on Monday, a move the senior housing-focused REIT is using to recapitalize its balance sheet and potentially fund future acquisitions.

Blackstone-backed AirTrunk is planning a US$1bn–$1.5bn data centre real estate investment trust IPO on the Singapore Exchange later this year, people with knowledge of the transaction said. 

Syndicated lending in EMEA totalled US$309bn in the first quarter of 2026, 19% lower than in the first three months of 2025, according to LPC data, but the loan market remained resilient in the face of persistent geopolitical and economic headwinds.

Against the backdrop of volatility, induced by the war in the Middle East, the emergence of AI as a buzzword and its uncertain, potential impact across various industry sectors, as well as simmering headlines around private credit portfolios, US lenders ushered nearly US$779bn through the broadly syndicated loan market in the first quarter, a 6% decline compared to the first three months of 2025.   

Syndicated lending in G3 currencies in Asia Pacific ex-Japan plunged to a five-year low in the first three months of 2026, posting the lowest quarterly tally since the coronavirus pandemic as the conflict in the Middle East weighed heavily on global financial markets.  

Liquidity concerns are rising for non-traded business development companies as AI-driven fears over software-heavy portfolios spur withdrawals, though the vehicles can absorb about a year of 5% quarterly redemptions without forced sales, market participants say.

It is unusual for a listed company to buy income-bearing securities of a peer as a treasury decision. In orthodox corporate finance, surplus capital is meant to do one of three things: fund projects that clear the hurdle rate, preserve liquidity, or be returned to shareholders. It is not normally redeployed into another company exposed to much the same trade, especially at a lower yield than the investing company pays on its own stock.

Private credit mishaps are coming at us with such speed and intensity that many of the stories are blurring into one. But rather than the private credit crisis dragging banks down, it might give them an opportunity to play offensively in this space.

The easiest way to hide a credit loss is not to deny it. It is to say it has not yet arrived. That was one of the quiet accounting failures exposed by the global financial crisis: losses were often recognised too late, only after the damage was obvious. IFRS 9 was supposed to fix that by forcing lenders to book expected credit losses earlier, using forward-looking judgment rather than waiting for the wreckage.

I played rugby as a schoolboy. I wasn’t too bad, playing for East Yorkshire a few times at under-16 level. My position was scrum-half, which meant I had a lot of the ball. And being in the thick of things, one soon learns to be nimble and quick-thinking to avoid being crushed by rampaging forwards.