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.

The Iran war and a mounting energy crisis battered UK government bonds in March, with short-dated Gilts registering their worst month in nearly three years.

Shareholder activism in the United States remains elevated and 41 campaigns were launched there last quarter, up 3% on the year before and accounting for two-thirds of all campaigns globally, according to research by Barclays.

The huge bid for top-tier SSA issuers this year is expected to continue for benchmark deals after Easter, even as other parts of the capital markets bow under the uncertainty generated by the Middle East war.

Slovenia has become the fourth European sovereign to the tap the Panda bond market, selling a Rmb4bn (US$579.2m) three-year deal at 1.89%, as the renminbi becomes an increasingly attractive funding currency. 

Egypt has sidestepped the inactive public bond market for Middle Eastern issuers by raising as much as US$500m from two privately placed taps.

FIG and corporate euro bond bankers expect to see busy months ahead in April and May following the disruption to supply in March from the Iran war and the volatile rates backdrop.

CLO bankers are struggling to get deals priced, especially ahead of the long Easter holiday weekend, with funding costs elevated due to the war in Iran, which is also curtailing investor risk appetite. 

The US asset-backed primary market is gearing up for the second quarter with dealmakers contending with volatile funding conditions as a result of the Iran war.

A Brookfield venture decided to halt the sale of a US$250m property bond as market volatility stemming from the Iran war has made issuance more difficult, a person familiar with the offering said on Monday.

EdgeConneX was a casualty of the recent volatility in the European securitisation market after Fitch downgraded the class A2 notes of the US data centre operator's debut European deal, just a week after it priced. 

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.

Two A-share listed companies are planning to raise at least US$3bn in total from Hong Kong listings in April despite increased market volatility amid the Middle East conflict.

Asian equity capital market volume grew in the first quarter despite extreme market swings driven by the Middle East conflict.

Finnish investment company Auroora has increased its shareholder base to more than 2,000 investors after its €35.1m all-primary IPO.

The coincidence of a short week, market volatility and quarter end resulted in subdued ECM activity, as US companies raised just US$1bn last week across only three registered deals.

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.