Faced with a historic profit squeeze, banks’ credit traders have set their sights on one of the biggest costs weighing them down: the hundreds of millions of dollars they pay every year in trading venue fees.

Nomura is investing to expand in macro trading as the Japanese bank bets that the volatility that has rocked financial markets in early 2026 is set to continue.

UniCredit plans to launch a low-ball takeover offer for Commerzbank, the German lender in which it has built a stake of just below 30% , with no expectation of achieving full control.

(Reuters) – Wall Street bank capital would fall 4.8% under softened capital rules unveiled by US bank regulators on Thursday, freeing up billions in dollars for lending, dividends and share buybacks in a stunning victory for the industry which had faced double-digit hikes under the original 2023 plan. 

Electronic Arts is expected to launch €2bn-plus of euro-denominated notes as soon as next week as part of a debt package backing the largest leveraged buyout on record.

The average new issue concession in the euro corporate market doubled over the past week, helping to put a brake on the underperformance of recent new issues following the outbreak of the Middle East war.  

Kawasaki Heavy Industries unveiled a unique sustainable finance framework on Monday, with the aim of reducing emissions across its supply chain.

Additional Tier 1 market participants hailed encouraging signs of the instrument's resilience to a volatile backdrop as Danske Bank secured a tightly priced US$500m perpetual non-call September 2033 note on Wednesday. 

RedZed pulled its planned 16th RMBS offering on Friday, the indicative A$800m (US$570m) non-conforming RedZed Trust Series 2026-1, a casualty of elevated market stress in reaction to the Iran war.  

UK fintech Abound, formerly known as Fintern, managed to get its public ABS done in a volatile market, with its pricing reflecting the fact that the small and relatively young consumer lender was making its maiden transaction.  

Nationwide Building Society priced and retained a £1.75bn, three-tranche RMBS called Silverstone 2026-1 on Wednesday, in a continuation of its stock and drop strategy that it last executed nine months ago. 

It was supposed to be the year of the CLO. But first software names that populated many of the underlying assets were hit by AI disruption fears, and then the Middle East war kicked off – mostly freezing activity in the sector.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries unveiled a unique sustainable finance framework on Monday, with the aim of reducing emissions across its supply chain.

The World Bank is reshaping Southern African public finance with two key initiatives in the region, a refinement of its debt-for-development swap instrument in Angola and a credit guarantee vehicle in South Africa.

The UK’s strategy for its pioneering retail sovereign green bonds – a world-first at launch back in 2021 – has become even more uncertain with Tuesday’s launch of the first new green Gilt to incorporate a retail offer .

Amundi's sustainability profile is helping to win more institutional mandates as asset owners seek to manage climate-related risks and their transition exposure. 

Data centre owner Nebius raised US$4bn from convertible bonds on Tuesday to back the massive capex programme required to deliver on AI infrastructure agreements, including a new US$27bn deal signed with Meta Platforms the previous day.

Hong Kong's bourse operator has proposed new measures to bolster initial public offerings, a move that is expected to further strain banks, law firms and auditors already under scrutiny from regulators about the quality of listing applications.

Shipping company d'Amico International sold 5% of oil and gas unit d’Amico International Shipping on Wednesday evening to boost liquidity in the stock but had to accept a heavy discount.

Reliance Industries-owned Jio Platforms has hired 17 banks ahead of an IPO filing expected as early as the end of this month, people with knowledge of the transaction said.

I played rugby as a schoolboy. I wasn’t too bad, playing for East Yorkshire a few times at under-16 level. My position was scrum-half, which meant I had a lot of the ball. And being in the thick of things, one soon learns to be nimble and quick-thinking to avoid being crushed by rampaging forwards.

Investment banks continue to expect strong first-quarter revenues. On Tuesday, Citigroup guided to mid-teens year-on-year growth in investment banking and markets revenues, and Bank of America guided to double-digit growth for both business lines. A few weeks ago, JP Morgan provided a similar upbeat message.

A dramatic but little appreciated rise in the volume of equity total return swaps is being accompanied by an erosion in the margins charged by bank prime finance desks to clients such as hedge funds.

The collapse of Market Financial Solutions follows a familiar and concerning pattern. According to documents submitted to London’s High Court at the commencement of its administration process, MFS may have double-pledged assets, potentially leaving a collateral shortfall of £930m. Loans to MFS totalled £1.16bn, and there was only £230m of “true value” available in the collateral accounts.