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On another planet
Despite squeezed profits and tougher conditions in European securitisation, Morgan Stanley has emerged as a leader in a slice of the market that holds significant promise for the future, making the bank IFR’s EMEA Structured Finance House of the Year.
If the cap fits
The UK securitisation market was forced to cope with multiple shocks in 2016, including a sharp credit sell-off early in the year, broad volatility ahead of the Brexit vote and deep uncertainty around continuously shifting regulations.
Changing times
In a year that saw many banks retreat from parts of the structured finance market as new industry-wide regulations took hold, Bank of America Merrill Lynch stayed the course and brought stability and innovation to the sector. It is IFR’s North America Structured Finance House of the Year.
Miracle on the Hudson
Even in a city dominated by outsized skyscrapers (not to mention an outsized president-elect), the new glass tower at 10 Hudson Yards in New York City is something remarkable.
Green premium
Australian consumer-finance specialist FlexiGroup printed a landmark securitisation in April that proved investors are willing to pay a premium for exposure to environmentally responsible assets.
Rock-bottom interest rates, quantitative easing and negative yields have turned the fixed-income investor universe upside down. How do fund managers make sense of these changes and how are they positioning their portfolios in response?
2016 couldn’t have been much worse for equity capital markets bankers: big spikes in volatility, intermittent periods of market closure, pulled deals and a collapse in fees. How have they weathered the storm, and how will they carry their injuries into 2017?
Chinese banks and brokers are taking over the Asian investment banking league tables, as more mainland issuers and investors turn to the international markets. Global rivals need to rethink their approach.
Big banks have lost more than US$60bn in their corporate centres in the last four years. Some critics say the units can mask the true performance of business divisions.
The rise and rise of the passive fund is yet another result of the low interest rate environment. And a worrying one.
A long-term commitment to re-balancing the Chinese economy should make the M&A boom more sustainable. But worries about capital flight and the renminbi’s weakness may force the authorities to put a stop to the party.
Fintech start-ups have mostly played around the edges of investment banks’ core activities – but not for much longer. The global financial full-service model was already creaking, but an Uber-style disruption to front-office activity is no longer a distant threat.
A growing realisation that over-enthusiastic and uncoordinated banking regulation is damaging the real economy, combined with the shock election victory of Donald Trump, is likely to see the regulatory onslaught of the post-financial crisis period lessen in intensity, if not reverse course.
