Greece has joined the club of SSAs probing digital bonds with a simulated security running on distributed ledger technology.

Analysis by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has concluded that the growing synthetic risk transfer markets, which are estimated at €750bn across the euro area, UK, US and Canada, pose lower risks than credit securitisation initiatives carried out before the 2008 financial crisis.

Ulf Erlandsson is leaving the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, the prominent ESG research and advocacy body he founded six years ago, to return to Swedish state pension fund AP4, though he will remain a director at philanthropy-funded AFII.

A small band of UBS traders are making waves in Europe’s famously sedate SSA and covered bond markets after scoring a major windfall last year.

Flemish Community took record size thanks to a big order book for its new long 10-year issuance on Wednesday. 

US telecoms company Verizon Communications was back in the European hybrid market on Wednesday with euro and sterling subordinated deals, a cookie cutter of its November hybrid debut.

Undeterred by a softer market backdrop and widening in long-end spreads, NatWest Group launched a €750m 11-year non-call 10 green holdco senior bond offering on Wednesday and secured its target price of 100bp, though demand more than halved from peak levels. 

UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia printed a bigger-than-usual covered bond on Tuesday, stirring some debate about the pricing.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is planning public consultations that could lead to an easing in the reporting and due diligence requirements in the securitisation market, according to people familiar with the matter, as the watchdog moves to finetune its post-Brexit securitisation regime.

MA Money encountered some indigestion for its seventh and largest RMBS issue to date, the upsized A$1.25bn-equivalent (US$880m) non-conforming MA Money Residential Securitisation Trust 2026-1, which included the issuer's inaugural yen tranche.

London-based Fasanara Capital is joining Park Square and Golub Capital in the latest wave of managers pressing ahead with the development of European CLO platforms.

A raft of new private credit CLOs in Europe will come as a relief for a market that has lacked enough issuance of new broadly syndicated leveraged loan deals to fuel the CLO machine. There are potentially eight private credit CLOs making their way into the market, sources say, reflecting the boom in private credit loans and increasing investor comfort with a sector that could offer higher spreads versus CLOs backed by broadly syndicated loans. 

Two leading Asian borrowers are poised to take biodiversity financing to a new level as China and the Philippines prepare the first sovereign bonds that will dedicate proceeds to addressing biodiversity loss and protecting natural ecosystems.

Tokyo and London are collaborating on transition finance as the two global financial centres join forces to develop the fledgling transition bond market.

South Africa's FirstRand Group's transition finance framework offers a blueprint for structuring the next round of transition deals for issuers in emerging and developing markets. 

The International Capital Market Association is concerned that Europe's proposed Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation 2.0 could have the unintended consequence of stifling the sustainable fund market. 

Compass Pathways is seeking to raise US$150m through a marketed follow-on sale of stock to bridge liquidity ahead of a potential regulatory approval of its psychedelic treatment for depression.

Robinhood Markets is seeking to raise US$1bn from a closed-end fund designed to invest in private companies, broadening access to retail investors ahead of what could be one of the biggest IPO cycles in capital markets history.

Demand was strong enough for a £77m primary accelerated bookbuild for London and Johannesburg-listed Sirius Real Estate to price the 5% capital raise at a premium on Monday evening.

The IPO of Kuwaiti supermarket operator Trolley reached a final deal size of KD59.5m (US$194m) after upsizing following strong demand.

KKR is handing over the keys of Accell to the company's lenders, with the Dutch bicycle manufacturer set to engage in a significant debt reduction and receive additional funding, Accell announced on Wednesday.

India has eased the external commercial borrowing rules by raising the borrowing limits and removing the pricing cap, a move expected to make offshore funding significantly easier for domestic corporates.

Utility firm Portland General Electric has commitments for an unsecured US$1.9bn 364-day bridge loan in place to support its approximately US$1.9bn acquisition of Washington state generation, transmission and electric utility operations from PacifCorp. 

The AI boom has been backed by investor enthusiasm – and their money – on an unprecedented scale. Investment bankers have high hopes of a huge year for deals. But just like the broader economy, will this be a K-shaped market for tech deals?

How stable is a stablecoin? That is a question that S&P attempts to answer via its Global Ratings’ Stablecoin Stability Assessment, a product designed to quantify a stablecoin’s ability to maintain its peg to a fiat currency. It produces a score from 1, very strong, to 5, weak.

A quick glance at investment bank share prices over the past year tells a story: business is booming and the outlook is rosy. The question now, in the middle of reporting and bonus season, is how much of the profits will bank bosses have to give away to their staff.

Strong black coffee – check. Two painkillers – check. A cigarette – check. Breakfast … done.