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Ahead of the Structured Finance Association’s annual Las Vegas conference, GlobalCapital spoke with its CEO, Michael Bright, on the market and the key themes to be discussed at this year’s event.

Provoked by rising buy-side demand and regulatory interest, the practices, processes, and interactions involved in the selling and buying of bonds is beginning to be transformed by electronification and technological advancement. Greater automation in workflows, enhancing efficiency and transparency for all participants, is a force for good in the primary bond market. Change in market practices is never easy. But a tech upgrade is needed.

Two years into a critical decade for the fight to cap global warming at 1.5 °Celsius, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is transforming into something the world has never had but now desperately needs - a multilateral climate bank. This groundbreaking shift is bringing the EIB’s entire balance sheet in line with the Paris Accords, influencing not only its own lending and borrowing but also the behavior of its counterparties.

Covered bond investors will be embarking on a new journey in 2022. But what do they have to bear in mind when packing their bags? Sabrina Miehs, a senior covered bond analyst in Helaba's research and advisory team, provides her views on what investors should look out for.

Over the last eight years and $80bn in transactions, Freddie Mac’s Credit Risk Transfer (CRT) programme has gone from strength to strength. Now, having proved its mettle through the Covid-19 crisis, the issuer is looking ahead to product innovation and the prospect of major regulatory change.

In an interview, Michael Bright, CEO of the Structured Finance Association, discusses some of the key issues and risks that have shaped the structured finance market this year, and highlights what to look out for in 2022.

Online retail broker Robinhood may have helped bring the phrase ‘democratize finance’ into focus recently, but this development – to essentially enable everyone greater, better, and fairer access to markets and capital – is something that is decades old.

Australian banks are ready to return in force to the capital markets for their fundraising activity, with investors in Asia set to play a critical role in the deals.

After three decades – and a few financial crises – on the trading floors of four of the largest investment banks, most traders would probably be contemplating leaving to either set up their own hedge fund or take their well-deserved retirement from the industry. Fewer still might be considering, and actually going through with, making a move into public sector employment.

The EIB publishes today its 2020 Climate Awareness Bond Framework. Together with the upcoming 2020 Sustainability Awareness Bond Framework, this document explains how the bank is aligning its green and sustainability bonds with the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the proposed EU Green Bond Standard Regulation. Aldo Romani and Tomomitsu Maruta of EIB’s sustainability funding team put into context this significant development at the ‘EU Climate Bank’.

Mainland China’s sustainable bond market has gone from strength to strength recently, with issuers and investors finding new opportunities and embracing international standards.

While strong issuance so far this year has given rise to expectations that the European securitization market’s recovery could accelerate in the second half, 2021 is not just a rebound story. Investor demand and regulatory change are also driving new developments and innovations, say BNY Mellon’s Paul Crossley, senior business development, principal, EMEA, and Michela Sperandio, head of business development, Italy.

The Vienna Stock Exchange celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, making it one of the world’s oldest stock exchanges. Its longevity and resilience, through wars, the fall of empires and financial crises, is partly due to a sound reading of, and response to, future market trends. In an interview with GlobalCapital, Matthias Szabo, director of debt listings, highlights three current trends that are shaping the future of the exchange, and the industry.

While the full financial impact of the pandemic has yet to emerge, growing signs of corporate distress are expected to start emerging in the coming months. To get ahead of it, early engagement with lenders and appointing strong advisors can help companies avoid insolvency or costly restructuring, say Ocorian’s Alan Booth, head of capital markets and Nick Bland, head of UK client services.

EQ Credit Services has rapidly grown to become one of the leading standby servicers and technology providers of loan management systems in the UK. In an interview with GlobalCapital, Will Ellis, sales director, describes the growth story so far and future ambitions.

KfW has one of the largest and most successful green bond issuance programmes in the market and now, with a new mandate from the Federal Government to help deliver ambitious climate goals, it is pushing ahead with a strategy that enshrines sustainable transformation as the Group’s primary strategic goal.

Active management, structural protections and refinancing have aided the resilience of collateralised loan obligations amid a challenging period for structured finance. The increasing embrace of environmental, social and governance factors in CLOs could aid the market’s recovery and future growth, says Ocorian’s Nick Bland, head of UK client services, and Kareem Robinson, client director.

Market participants expect European consumer ABS spreads to remain flat or tighten in 2021, despite the potential for these deals to reflect economic stresses and rising unemployment, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

As yields have collapsed elsewhere under pressure from central bank interventions, fixed income investors have increasingly sought higher returns in the esoteric ABS sector, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

The US consumer ABS market is in the middle of a balancing act, as investors cautiously look at indicators of further economic pain while also eyeing riskier assets in the hunt for yield, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

While it’s difficult to be positive on the outlook, securitization market participants expect only a modest increase in nonperforming loans in Europe this year, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

2020 was an extraordinary year. It was period many would rather forget in their personal lives, but a year of outsize returns in pockets of securitized products. It was also a year that turned the outlook for securitization on its head.

GlobalCapital and HSBC hosted a virtual roundtable in mid-January to discuss the blowout start to high yield bond issuance in 2021. Leading market experts highlighted how Asia’s debt markets have shifted — and how borrowers are positioning themselves for the rest of the year.

Throughout these uncertain times, UniCredit is providing a point of reference for the CEE, thanks to our strong commitment to supporting clients and the region.