As the US/Israel war with Iran neared the end of its second week, investment banks in the Middle East region, who have expanded over the past two years amid a flurry of debt and equity raising, have signalled they are maintaining their local operations and are confident in long-term prospects.

Top US banks are expecting double digit percent growth in investment banking and trading in the current quarter, building on a deal making boom that started last year and a multi-year boom in fixed income and equity trading.

Investors scrambling to protect themselves against rising bond yields sent trading volumes in government bonds and interest rate derivatives surging to all-time highs in early March, as the prospect of a protracted conflict in the Middle East reignited fears over inflation.

Deutsche Bank’s bonus pool for 2025 increased by 7% to €2.68bn across the group. That was a higher increase than management board members received; their total compensation was up 1% to €68.9m.

Corporate bond sales surged during the second week of March in some of the US high-grade market’s busiest sessions on record as borrowers played catch-up after a series of stops and starts since the outbreak of the Iran war.

A number of low-rated African sovereigns have issued at high yields in the US dollar markets this year to ease pressure on their domestic curves, highlighting the difficult balancing act these countries face in managing their liquidity needs.

Automaker Stellantis brought its inaugural hybrid bonds to the market on Tuesday with one of the largest subordinated deals from a corporate, though it paid up to achieve its target. 

Overnight volatility in the oil price made some euro corporate issuers hold back from opening books on Thursday, but two companies took the plunge with multi-tranche acquisition trades.

Synchrony Financial prepared the first credit card ABS of 2026 in hopes of capturing attractive funding amid the market volatility spurred by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Switch and MetroNet have returned to the US asset-backed primary market as the digital infrastructure funding surges across credit markets. 

As the broader credit market reopened, securitisation took off on Tuesday, with eight deals moving through the market: three fresh announcements of new issues and five releasing initial price thought details. 

A consortium of US housing industry groups on Tuesday urged US lawmakers to drop a provision in a bill that would force developers to sell so-called "build to rent" homes in seven years, a move that analysts say would likely decrease funding in the securitization market for these types of properties. 

South Africa has created a pioneering credit guarantee vehicle that aims to mobilise as much as US$10bn into the country’s energy, transport and water infrastructure over the next decade.

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

London Stock Exchange Group's new set of ESG scores and sustainability analytics aims to make data more transparent and comparable, and easier for global financial markets to use and analyse in preparation for greater automation. 

Angola is poised to refine the debt-for-education swap playbook pioneered by Ivory Coast in 2024 as part of a new US$1.1bn financing package.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has revived plans for a US$5bn–$10bn NYSE listing of Pershing Square USA (PSUS) to provide his hedge fund with another source of permanent capital.

SoftBank-backed Japanese fintech PayPay raised US$880m on Wednesday from a below-range Nasdaq IPO that leaned heavily on strategic cornerstone demand and unusually strong support from investors in its home market.

Black Sesame International is weighing options, including cancellation, regarding a share placement to Infini Capital Management after the hedge fund was said to be involved in alleged insider dealing in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

National Stock Exchange has selected 20 banks for its IPO, a record number for an Indian float.

The debt package backing the US$55bn leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts is expected to be marketed at wider levels than initially anticipated, as volatility triggered by the escalating Middle East war ripples through credit markets.

SoftBank Group is once again pushing the boundaries of the loan market in Asia Pacific with a mammoth financing of up to US$40bn to fund a new investment in OpenAI, in what could become the second-largest bridge facility from the region.

Median Group bucked the trend among European leveraged finance borrowers of downing tools and waiting for stability to return by swiftly moving through the market with an amend-and-extend exercise.

European private credit managers are monitoring the impact on their loan portfolios of the US military campaign in Iran but say it is too early to reposition risk.

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.

It is unbecoming to say “I told you so”, but when it comes to Meta Platforms’ US$27.3bn project bond to fund its Hyperion data centre via private credit shop Blue Owl Capital (and SPV Beignet Investor) the temptation is strong. I wrote in late 2025 that Meta’s decision not to consolidate the debt on its balance sheet sits uneasily with the economic risk that investors have assumed they are taking when they bought the deal in October. And now Meta’s auditor, EY, clearly feels this same tension.

Full-year earnings from European banks – Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and UBS – showed them broadly holding market share in the markets’ business, but struggling to capitalise on the upswing in investment banking.