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◆ Venezuela embarks on historic debt restructuring 
◆ Canada suggests covered bond boost 
◆ European Secured Notes are here. Regulate them

Venezuela's debt restructuring is getting underway, nine years after the country defaulted and just months after the US removed its former president, Nicolas Maduro. The amount of debt involved is expected to be huge but no one outside of Venezuela knows quite how much. 

That's not the only unusual thing about the exercise. We discuss what looks likely to be the biggest sovereign debt restructuring since Greece — the unknowns, the unique complexities, where there is hope for Venezuela and its creditors and the rare involvement of the US government.

Canada is considering easing up on the regulatory treatment of overseas covered bonds. We explore what this means for Canada's banks, international covered bond issuers and whether it advances the cause for the regulatory equivalence between different financial jurisdictions that could unlock growth for the asset class.

Finally, the European Secured Note, a long-touted idea to use covered bond techniques to fund lending to different sorts of assets is about to make an appearance in the bond market. We discuss Bpifrance's pioneering deal, which will boast loans made to small and medium-sized companies as well as mid-cap French firms as collateral, and argue that regulators need to decide how to treat ESNs if they are to have a future as a funding tool for the EU economy.

Now read on:

Long road ahead as Venezuela preps jumbo debt restructuring

Canadian reform may help level global covered bond playing field

First ESN arrives at last — regulators should bless it