Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Japanese banks are unlikely to enjoy any let-up from razor-thin net interest margins in 2019. This is worrying for their long-term sustainability, but it’s potentially a bonanza for DCM specialists in Europe and the US.

Volkswagen Bank started its funding for 2019 with a hefty four tranche deal on Thursday that will contribute to its minimum requirement of own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) when the German regulator decides what that should be.

New issuance returned to the corporate bond market on Tuesday as Auchan and Vonovia attracted €8bn of demand for their new deals after two days without any trades. The new issuance spreads they paid differed markedly however.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.

Isabel Mahony, who had been head of fixed income sales and trading EMEA and Asia ex-Japan at SMBC Nikko Capital Markets, has left to the firm to join children's magazine Scoop as chief financial officer.

The new-look Fox Corp made its dollar bond debut this week as the technical backdrop in the investment grade continued to improve with tightening spreads and thinner new issue concessions.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) has launched a $700m multi-tranche loan into general syndication, raising some debate among bankers about the tight pricing on offer.

In this round-up, China’s foreign exchange reserves rebounded slightly for the second month in a row, Standard Chartered’s index for international RMB usage fell again, and China's consumer price index (CPI) inflation decelerated at the close of 2018.

As is becoming traditional in the European corporate bond market, car finance issuers sold the first new issues of the year. The fact the market had to wait just one day was a positive, considering that the backdrop was largely unchanged from the end of 2018, when the market had been difficult to access. However, there were some warning signs other issuers will do well to heed.

The European corporate bond market had to wait just one day for the first new issue of 2019. Some participants had expected volatility in the global financial markets to result in a blank first week for corporates, but finance subsidiaries of Renault and Toyota opted to start their financing for the year on Thursday.

Equate Group, the Kuwaiti petrochemical producer, has amended and extended its $1.9bn term loan and $1bn revolving credit facility, achieving a reduction in pricing and strong demand from international lenders.

Housing Development Finance Corp is taking the Samurai loan route for its second syndicated financing of the year.