Comment EM and The Cover

Albaraka Turk scored a solid first last week when it issued Turkey’s first Basel III compliant additional tier one bond, but while this marks progress, it will take one of the country’s larger banks to establish a true benchmark.

Following an €8.1bn state bail-out, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena still has its work cut out in putting ticks in the boxes of its 2021 restructuring plan.

I’ve only ever had to organise one wedding — mine and Tai Tai’s. And even then, my main task was to show up sober and say the right name at the right time. So I never really understood the stress and worry that went into putting together a big shindig. Until this week.

Panda bond issuance has so far been dominated by overseas-incorporated Chinese names. That bolsters volumes, but it does little to help the market fulfil its role of boosting RMB internationalisation. Policymakers have the chance to fix it — but only if they are bold enough to let markets play a bigger role.

The Wellcome Trust charity is a fine institution. The medical research it has funded will benefit the world for many years. This week it helped fund that work by selling a £750m 100 year bond. The investors who bought it probably have a warm glow inside knowing they have helped the cause. But is it responsible to buy bonds that will redeem in 2118?

The ritual warnings about the ‘junk bond market’ are filling business pages again as the new year rolls on. They are inaccurate, and help hide the actual potential dangers under the surface of overheated high yield bonds.

Market participants should be following closely the tactics, if not the arguments, of investors that lost out in the Novo Banco retransfer two years ago.

DCM bankers often market Panda bonds as Belt and Road bonds, even when they have little to do with China’s landmark infrastructure plan. But in recent weeks, issuers with genuine needs for funding Belt and Road projects have started to tap the market. The change could open up a new frontier for RMB internationalisation.

We need to talk about capital. But language makes it difficult.

One of the biggest chores of Christmas is getting out of shopping centres. Remembering where you parked the car, queuing to get out of the car park, then weaving through the traffic on a longer than usual trip home. One industry titan has decided it's time to head for the exit.

Investors’ attentions have turned to 2018 in the absence of any new IG corporate bonds this week. And, despite tight spreads and low yields, they expect similar conditions to prevail, albeit providing lower returns given the lower starting point than 2017.

The Single Resolution Board (SRB) should not have needed an appeal panel to determine that the Banco Popular resolution could have been more transparent. It was blatantly obvious from the outset.