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◆ Iran peace deal in sight but where are the Middle East issuers? 

◆ Why primary capital markets will be slow adopters of DLT 

◆ Why French covered bond issuance has slowed and why it might pick up

The Iran war has kept the Middle East's bond issuers largely at bay but with the path to peace now clearer, issuance conditions have improved. But even this might not be enough to tempt borrowers back to the primary bond market en masse. We discover why.

We also analyse a new report on the digitalisation of wholesale finance and discuss why capital markets might be one of the last bits of finance to go digital.

French issuers are among the biggest users of the covered bond market but so far this year, they are way down on the volumes they have issued compared to last year. We examine what has been going on and uncover the reasons why there could be more French deals in the coming months.

And we also talk about the GlobalCapital Bond Awards 2026 held this week in London, one of our biggest events of the year, and about some of the awards we handed out on the night.

Now read on:

Gulf markets lap up peace memo but public issuance unlikely to come roaring back
Primary capital markets could be among last to adopt DLT, report finds
Core covered issuers to step forward in second half of year
GlobalCapital Bond Awards 2026: winners revealed

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◆ What now for European Secured Notes ater long-awaited debut?

◆ The mood in European securitization amid MFS fallout and reg reform 

◆ Digitalisation of bond market is up to the regulators

Bpifrance achieved a world first this week, pricing the inaugural European Secured Note. The deal was a success but it has taken about a decade to get the product from concept to market. 

The question is now where next for ESNs? This twist on a covered bond has clear applications as a capital market instrument that can help fund the real economy but it could be argued that its future lies in the hands of the regulators and how they choose to treat it. We discuss the different paths ESNs might be led down and the alternatives open to issuers.

Meanwhile, GlobalCapital's European securitization team is back from Global ABS in Barcelona — that market's major gathering for the year. We find out what is giving the market cause for fear and cheer. 

We discuss how specialist lenders, banks and funds are adjusting to prevent or mitigate another scandal like the one that befell Market Financial Solutions earlier this year, and how the securitization market feels about the direction of regulatory reform.

Sticking with the topic of all-powerful financial regulators, we also discuss why it is they rather than the technologists that will decide the fate of bond market digitialisation.

Now read on:

ESNs arrive: regulatory recognition may follow French first
European Secured Notes needn’t rush to Brussels
Funds eye ABF market share as banks pull back
ABS conference delegates emit mixed feelings of trepidation and optimism
On DLT, regulators could bring order — or disruption

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◆ Credit card ABS grows as securitization sets off for Barcelona 

◆ What can scupper insurance tier two spree 

◆ SSAs appear unwilling to test Treasury spread record

A deal from Vanquis Bank, a securitization of credit card receivables, is the latest deal in a revival of an asset class that has been morinund since the 2008 financial crisis. We examine why this market is making a comeback now and what makes it different this time. 

We also discuss our sister podcast, Another Fine Mezz's plans for a live show at next week's Global ABS event in Barcelona, which is the major industry gathering for the European securitization industry, and look ahead to the conference.

Insurance companies have been on a spree of tier two issuance lately. We explain why and discuss why investors might be reaching their limit and what issuers can do about it.

Finally, we return to a hot topic from last week's show — whether a public sector bond issuer can price a deal at a tighter yield than US Treasuries. It appears that there is some reticence among issuers to be the first, even though doing so would be a major milestone. We examine why that is and explain why it might still happen over the summer anyway.

Now read on:

Vanquis fuels bank-led credit card ABS comeback
Insurer tier two parade begins to test investors' limits
On the banks of the Rubicon: hopes for an SSA to price through Treasuries fade
Pricing an SSA through Treasuries would be a warning not a trophy

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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

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◆ Supranationals and agencies prepare to achieve the previously unthinkable 

◆ Leveraged loans versus private credit and their effect on CLOs 

◆ A new dawn for dollar covered bonds and UK equity market structure

Bond issuance from supranational and agency issuers is rampant. And not only are volumes high but the bonds are flying too, attracting large order books, being priced with little if any issue premium and then performing in the secondary market. 

There has been a notable resurgence in dollar issuance in particular, even as issuers price within a hair's breadth of US Treasury yields. That has set the market alight with chatter once more that an issuer could be about to price a bond through what is commonly held to be the most risk-free asset on the planet. We explain the dynamics at work and identify what deal from which issuer could achieve this milestone.

At the lower end of the credit spectrum, borrowers are making choices between going to the private credit market for funding or the broadly syndicated leveraged loan market. We discuss the choices borrowers face and the implications for the collateralised loan obligation market.

The dollar market hosted a rarity this week: a covered bond from a European bank. As investors look for alternative highly-rated securities in the currency to Treasuries, we investigate whether we will see much more covered bond issuance and what might drive or prevent it.

Finally, we looked into what trade bodies are demanding of the Financial Conduct Authority from its consultation on the structure of UK equity markets. We examine their arguments for a consolidated tape and where trading should be encouraged to take place.

Now read on:

SSAs glow in sunshine of demand, pushing spreads ever closer to Treasuries

Credit quality diverges, with CLOs getting better names, private credit the rest

Bawag’s first dollar covered bond shines light on niche market

Trade bodies to FCA: leave trading alone but give us a great equities tape

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◆ The prospects for sterling bond issuance amid UK political upheaval 

◆ A new issuer and a new securitization from the SSA sector 

◆ Ontario's plans for a resilience bond

The mice turned on the cat in UK politics this week, causing volatility in the bond market and a headache for issuers of sterling bonds. Prime minister Keir Starmer is under fire from Labour Party colleagues and faces a challenge to his leadership following a grim set of local election results.

Uncertainty over whether there will be a change of PM and what the fiscal policies of a new one will be is roiling the Gilt market. But what of other issuers in sterling? We discover there is plenty of demand for bonds at these higher yields, but whether issuers have any interest in funding at those prices is another matter.

The multilateral development bank bond market is about to welcome a new entrant: the African Development Fund. We discuss what the ADF is, how much it will issue, when it will start and why it is coming to the bond market.

Elsewhere in the MDB sector, the International Finance Corporation has executed a novel securitization long in the works. We analyse the deal, who bought it and what the future will be for this method by which MDBs can manage their balance sheets.

Finally, Ontario this week made its pitch to host another new multilateral bank: the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. To display the province's credentials, its premier Doug Ford revealed it would issue a "resilience" bond. Resilience is becoming a huge topic in the capital markets but the deal would be the first of its kind, so we looked into its progress to market and what it will be used to fund.

Now read on:

Sterling market braces for volatility as Starmer drama erupts

The quiet volatility of a noisy Gilt market

African Development Fund could issue $4bn over three years

IFC’s first synthetic securitization powers up EM trade finance

Ontario targets first 'resilience' bond as it pitches to host DSR Bank

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◆ EU regs plan sparks debate over treatment of secured borrowing 

◆ Blistering corporate and FIG issuance but why are premiums rising in one market but not the other? 

◆ UK Renters' Rights Act to impact UK buy-to-let RMBS market

Plans to change the capital risk-weightings banks must apply to some of their securitization holidings caused consternation in the covered bond market this week. Both securitization and covered bonds are forms of debt secured on a pool of assets — often of the same type, such as mortgages. Of course there are big differences between the two asset classes as well. 

Fresh from the European Covered Bond Council's conference in Norway this week, we delve into the controversy and what the outcome will likely be for the way covered bonds are treated under the rules, as well as securitizations.

Another two markets that are close cousins are the European financial institution and investment grade corporate bond markets. Both have been very busy lately, awash with deals. But while new issue premiums are rising in the corporate bond market, that is not the case in the FIG market. We discuss why that is and what the pipeline looks like in each for the rest of the month.

Finally, we discuss another set of rules affecting securitization. The Renters' Rights Act recently came into force in England. The changes it demands to the way landlords operate will have a knock-on effect on the UK's buy-to-let residential mortgage-backed securities market. We examine what those will be.

Now read on:

Experts play down European snub to covered bonds

Who's afraid of securitization?

Fearless FIG investors gobble up latest wave of heavy issuance

Corporate issuers pay up in euros as bond wave floods market

Fear not the hyperscalers

UK BTL RMBS to persist despite Renters' Rights Act

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◆ Powell Fed era ends with split decision ◆ Bank capital to lead Gulf bond revival ◆ SSAs, corporates and FIG face busy May 

President Trump appointed Jay Powell as Federal Reserve chair — then hounded him continually to ease monetary policy and ended up launching a criminal investigation against him. What could possibly go wrong for Kevin Warsh?

The central question for markets is whether he will have an independent mind or be Trump’s puppet. So far, Warsh is getting the benefit of the doubt. 

After 62 days without a public bond deal from the Gulf, Emirates NBD reopened the market, surprising observers by bringing a deeply subordinated additional tier one capital deal. 

It could be more than a one-off. A lot of banks in the region have capital securities to call and replace, and these are likely to bulk large as issuance gets back into gear.

Across the public sector, financial institution and corporate bond markets, May is set to be exceptionally busy with issuance, but each sector is taking the prospect in a different way.

Corporates are gung-ho, while SSAs are still gripped by the urge to avoid risk by funding as much as possible early. Financial instutions have borrowing to catch up on, but are close to a cliff edge. Spreads are ultra-tight, but nasty spectres could easily spook the market.

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◆ Fast money reverses out of SSA bond market 

◆ CLO managers face risky ramp startegy 

◆ Corporate hybrid bond market runs hot despite volatility

The rise of hedge funds as dedicated investors in the supranational and agency bond market was one of the biggest changes in that sector at the start of the year. But now they are pulling back from new issue syndications. We examine why market volatility resulting from the Iran war has sounded the retreat and also assess the impact their withdrawal is having on issuers' pricing power.

Meanwhile, the war in Iran is one of a number of factors affecting leveraged loan pricing. It has given CLO managers a chance to make more money, if they can get their hands on enough cheap loans to ramp-up the collateral backing their deals fast enough. But, as we discover, that brings them a whole new set of risks, especially in financial markets which react, as one source put it this week "tweet by tweet".

Finally, we ask why investment grade companies are having such success in the hybrid bond market. Counterintuitively, issuers are achieving debut deals and tight pricing on their riskiest form of debt just at a time when the war is making other markets far less certain. We discuss the dynamics at play.

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◆ Dazzling feats of issuance in public sector bond market but signs of wariness persist 

◆ How banks have derisked May issuance 

◆ Corporate bond investors stick around

So many bond issuance records tumbled in a busy week in the primary market that to some it felt like we were back in January. That is typically the busiest month of the year and the 2026 edition was particularly successful for issuers. But scratch beneath the surface and it was clear that issuers were having to be quite cautious about how they approached investors.

This week, we discuss the tactics public sector issuers are using that are driving investors into their deals and those they are not deploying, at least just yet. 

We also look at how banks have brought forward issuance, pricing some spectacular deals by doing so, to take advantage of improved investor sentiment resulting from the Iran war ceasefire. We debate what this means for the rest of the spring for banks issuing in the primary market.

Finally, we looked at the European corporate bond market where issuers also took full advantage of the sentiment boost, allowing us to examine the way different companies are approaching investors and what makes for a successul new issue.

Now read on:

SSA orderbooks bulge like it's January but sensitivity and ‘insecurity’ remain
SSA issuers that can offer clarity will thrive in uncertainty
Surging demand for euro FIG credit eases pressure for clashes in May
Waterfall of sticky investors cascades into euro IG corporate bond market