US regional banks are not only defending market share in investment banking as their larger Wall Street rivals go on the prowl, they are gaining share, using their strong balance sheets and beefing up staff.

The effort to open up debt and equity capital markets to finance the growth of defence and security companies would be helped by more transparency about their operations and the wider adoption of voluntary bond frameworks to showcase the industry's benefits, according to those working to help defence companies raise money for investment.

SoftBank Group sold some of its most profitable investments and took on billions of dollars of debt so that it could triple its bet on OpenAI at the end of last year, in an indication of how Masayoshi Son is increasingly tying his company’s fortunes to the success or failure of the AI outfit.

Three years after TD Bank bought US boutique investment bank Cowen, the Canadian lender is leaning into hiring and setting its sights on taking a bigger share of the global investment banking pie.   

The investment corridor between the Middle East and Asia has been heating up, as bond investors in both regions look to each other for attractive options in a volatile world.

China's efforts to ramp up the internationalisation of the renminbi are paying off as a growing number of SSA issuers line up to issue Panda bonds.

Panama is preparing to fund a tender offer, which was launched last week, with its first dollar bond sale in two years, as fixed income investors take a more favourable view of a Central American country that has been teetering just above junk territory.  

The flow of reverse Yankee supply in euros picked up on Thursday as three US corporates tapped the market.

MA Money encountered some indigestion for its seventh and largest RMBS issue to date, the upsized A$1.25bn-equivalent (US$880m) non-conforming MA Money Residential Securitisation Trust 2026-1, which included the issuer's inaugural yen tranche.

London-based Fasanara Capital is joining Park Square and Golub Capital in the latest wave of managers pressing ahead with the development of European CLO platforms.

A raft of new private credit CLOs in Europe will come as a relief for a market that has lacked enough issuance of new broadly syndicated leveraged loan deals to fuel the CLO machine. There are potentially eight private credit CLOs making their way into the market, sources say, reflecting the boom in private credit loans and increasing investor comfort with a sector that could offer higher spreads versus CLOs backed by broadly syndicated loans. 

Securitisations backed by buy now, pay later receivables could emerge in Europe for the first time as surging e-commerce volumes expand lending to higher-risk borrowers and regulatory tightening boosts investor confidence, according to a Moody's report.

Tokyo and London are collaborating on transition finance as the two global financial centres join forces to develop the fledgling transition bond market.

South Africa's FirstRand Group's transition finance framework offers a blueprint for structuring the next round of transition deals for issuers in emerging and developing markets. 

The International Capital Market Association is concerned that Europe's proposed Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation 2.0 could have the unintended consequence of stifling the sustainable fund market. 

Deutsche Bank made a notable entrance into the select club of FIG issuers equipped to print green bonds aligned with European Union standards.

Hong Kong’s red-hot IPO market is attracting South-East Asian issuers looking for exits amid illiquid domestic markets.

South Korea's record-setting stock market helped spur interest in Kbank’s revived W498bn (US$346m) Korea Exchange IPO, which finally succeeded after three years of struggle.

AST SpaceMobile secured US$1bn on Wednesday from the sale of a 10-year convertible bond in the latest step in an aggressive balance sheet overhaul that has sharply reduced the company's debt and extended maturities as it transitions to commercial operations.

Singapore-headquartered DayOne Data Centres is working with Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley on an up to US$5bn US IPO planned for this year, people with knowledge of the transaction said. 

Electronic Arts is leaning more heavily on banks to fund its record-breaking US$20bn buyout financing, seeking at least US$1.5bn in additional term loan A commitments amid strong appetite for the tranche, which could lead to a reduced term loan B portion.

SoftBank Group is in talks with relationship banks for a financing of around US$10bn or larger to fund its new investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI. 

European leveraged finance software names are under pressure as investors draw away from companies they see as facing an existential threat from AI, undermining the debt piles backing the sector. 

The AI boom has been backed by investor enthusiasm – and their money – on an unprecedented scale. Investment bankers have high hopes of a huge year for deals. But just like the broader economy, will this be a K-shaped market for tech deals?

How stable is a stablecoin? That is a question that S&P attempts to answer via its Global Ratings’ Stablecoin Stability Assessment, a product designed to quantify a stablecoin’s ability to maintain its peg to a fiat currency. It produces a score from 1, very strong, to 5, weak.

A quick glance at investment bank share prices over the past year tells a story: business is booming and the outlook is rosy. The question now, in the middle of reporting and bonus season, is how much of the profits will bank bosses have to give away to their staff.

Strong black coffee – check. Two painkillers – check. A cigarette – check. Breakfast … done.