IFR’s recent credit derivatives roundtable came soon after 14 leading dealers had been called in to a meeting with regulators from around the world hosted by New York Federal Reserve president Tim Geithner. The dealers were summoned to explain how they planned to remedy problems associated with the explosive growth of the sector, and participants in our roundtable had varying views on whether the industry is taking the right approach tactically and strategically to issues such as reduction of the default swap confirmation backlog and unnotified assignment of trades.

The European commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) market has gone into overdrive this year. Observers from the Street, to the broadsheet press, from head hunters to corporate law firms are all talking about product that has moved from niche to mainstream over the past 12-months. And it's still building momentum.

It has been a year of good problems for the CDO market. Demand for structured credit products remains extremely strong, despite stubbornly low spreads. This has led to difficulty in sourcing assets to place in cash CDOs, though the continuing sharp growth in deal volumes for cash trades is testament to the way that arrangers and managers have diversified in the structured finance, real estate and middle market loan sectors.

IFR hosted its first leveraged finance roundtable on September 14 and, much like the leveraged market itself, things got hot pretty quick.

For as long as covered bonds continue to rival supra/sovereign/agencies in the high-grade frequent borrower/benchmark stakes, it is highly unlikely that there will ever be a shortage of talking points.

When IFR held its second convertible bond roundtable on February 17, the participants – Stephan Theissing of Allianz, Douglas Decker (Barclays Capital), Franck Cazaubieilh (BNP Paribas), Martin Fisch (Deutsche Bank), Manish Wadhwani (HVB), Viswas Raghavan (JP Morgan), Antoine de Guillenchmidt (Merrill Lynch) and Lorraine Lodge (Nomura) – had a lot to talk about.

When IFR held its second convertible bond roundtable on February 17, the participants – Stephan Theissing of Allianz, Douglas Decker (Barclays Capital), Franck Cazaubieilh (BNP Paribas), Martin Fisch (Deutsche Bank), Manish Wadhwani (HVB), Viswas Raghavan (JP Morgan), Antoine de Guillenchmidt (Merrill Lynch) and Lorraine Lodge (Nomura) – had a lot to talk about.

On February 7, IFR hosted a roundtable discussion at the Dubai Capital Club with participants from Arabtec Holding, Morgan Stanley, Riyad Capital and Standard Chartered Bank. The subject was the outlook for M&A and capital markets in the MENA region, in the wake of the global financial crisis and in light of some well publicised regional difficulties. The bank representatives came from the firms heading the Thomson Reuters M&A, equity capital markets and syndicated lending league tables, respectively, in the MENA region for 2009.

There was a time at the beginning of 2009 when some analysts were unwilling to put a figure on potential jumbo issuance. Others went so far as to suggest that the first half of the year would not bring any jumbo issuance whatsoever. And for some jurisdictions, they were right - but not where Pfandbriefe were concerned.

Safety, transparency and liquidity – these are the three pillars of the covered bond industry. Like a financial Parthenon, the Pfandbrief market enjoys the grandest and oldest pillars of all, and provides the benchmark by which all other covered bond markets are measured.

As 2008 wore on and banks found it increasingly difficult and costly to fund themselves, covered bonds were touted by industry professionals and politicians alike as the panacea for the liquidity drought. But they have also proved susceptible to the illiquidity that has ravaged financial markets, especially in the second half of the year.

So much fuss has been made of the political issues raging around Turkey in recent years that it is easy to forget its financial markets. The question of Turkish membership of the EU has received more column inches throughout Europe and Turkey than many other issues put together. More recently, the question of how far Turkey’s secular traditions should be respected has been equally explosive.

So much fuss has been made of the political issues raging around Turkey in recent years that it is easy to forget its financial markets. The question of Turkish membership of the EU has received more column inches throughout Europe and Turkey than many other issues put together. More recently, the question of how far Turkey’s secular traditions should be respected has been equally explosive.

Brazil is on the cusp of becoming an investment grade credit. The sovereign has never looked better and its corporates never healthier. Many enjoy cash-rich positions and a few are able to cross the seas and engage in major acquisitions and vie among the world’s biggest players in sectors such as mining and commodities.

Eight key players involved in European CDOs recently gathered to talk about the impact of this summer's liquidity crisis and how the CDO and wider securitisation markets are likely to change.

The speed in which the heat has gone from the leverage finance market has left most participants reeling. Indeed, had IFR held this roundtable prior to the summer then the conclusions would have been very different.

IFR hosted a roundtable at its offices on June 25 to discuss developments in Sub-Saharan Capital Markets. Participating were Stuart Culverhouse of Exotix, François Ekam-Dick of Iroko Securities, Alex von Sponeck of Merrill Lynch, Francis Beddington of Standard Bank, and Ade Adebajo of Standard Chartered Bank.

Throughout 2006 and the early part of 2007, the non-core currency bond markets have continued to offer opportunities to borrowers and investors alike to enter arenas away from the mainstream markets.

Once thought of as a sleepy backwater, the ratings business is now widely viewed as a key driver in some of the most dynamic market sectors, structured finance and structured credit, among others.

It was the best of times and the worst of times for the Latin American syndicated loans market in 2006. Borrowers, especially at the top tier, got ever tighter pricing while lenders were forced to fall on the relationship sword.

The main theme in the covered bond market of 2006 has been the addition of new jurisdictions as fresh legislation is passed. Most notably, this included the much-anticipated and successful opening of the US covered bond market courtesy of Washington Mutual in a move widely expected to open the floodgates for more US mortgage lenders looking to latch onto the coattails of this success.

The combination of stable government and an improving economy continues to keep Turkey on the right path. But as the country definitively emerges from the dynamics of crisis economics and with elections in the offing, what comes next?

The combination of stable government and an improving economy continues to keep Turkey on the right path. But as the country definitively emerges from the dynamics of crisis economics and with elections in the offing, what comes next?

The non-core currency bond markets came into 2006 with renewed optimism. The push into new currencies that dominated the market last year has continued with issuers beginning to embrace a broad range of African currency markets including Botswanan pula, Egyptian pounds, Tanzanian shillings and Namibian dollars. Many have been structured as synthetic transactions as the clearing houses catch up with the new trends, but investors have embraced the opportunity to pick-up yield in a historically low rate environment.

Brazilian capital markets are at an historic turning point. The leading South American economy is the darling of emerging markets investors and an influx of foreign capital is expected to revolutionise the nation's credit profile and local corporate finance.

The IMF/World Bank annual meetings this year provided an ideal backdrop for a discussion on the internationalisation of Asia’s capital markets.

IFR’s seventh annual German Corporate Funding roundtable, which took place in Frankfurt in early November, found participants upbeat but at the same time pensive and rather preoccupied. It was an unusual emotional juxtaposition.

The IMF/World Bank annual meetings this year provided an ideal backdrop for a discussion on the internationalisation of Asia’s capital markets.

IFR’s US ECM Roundtable was held on September 15, as stock market indexes were ticking historic highs. Investors were showing greater resolve to chase higher returns by participating in ECM deals.

There is no doubt that the subject of sustainable finance is at the forefront of current debate and no doubt that the consensus has already built that climate risk is financial risk. More than that, there is widespread commitment to tackle the issues of climate risk in a socially responsible way.

IFR’s annual ADB roundtable, held as part of the Asian Development Bank’s annual meetings hosted this year by Yokohama, took place at a significant moment. This year marked not just the 20th anniversary of the Asian financial crisis but more importantly perhaps the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Asian Development Bank.

IFR held its Covered Bond roundtable on January 31 with delegates coming together at a strong start to the year for the asset class. Spreads that had been under a bit of pressure at the end of 2016 are on a tear again, with the already tight getting tighter, demand growing and average deal sizes increasing. But that’s not to say that the year ahead will be plain sailing and there are a number of factors casting a shadow over the market.

IFR held its Mexico Capital Markets Roundtable on November 28, 2016, just weeks after Donald Trump defied expectations by winning the US presidential election on November 8.

IFR convened its fifth annual German Corporate Funding Roundtable in Frankfurt in mid-November just as bond markets, led by US Treasuries, were starting their sharp re-pricing off the back of higher inflation expectations and tighter US money.

IFR recently convened a highly insightful roundtable discussion in Washington DC, entitled “India’s Path to Sustainable Growth: Challenges and Opportunities”. State Bank of India chair Arundhati Bhattacharya delivered some affirmative opening comments that eloquently framed the discussion that followed.

IFR’s 4th annual German SME Funding Roundtable, held at the end of September in Frankfurt, was another absorbing encounter.

IFR’s US ECM Roundtable was held on September 12, just ahead of the Fed’s decision to hold the line on interest rates and the US presidential election. The Fed only postponed a cycle of rate-tightening and the end of the accommodative environment that has sustained the current bull market.

IFR was back in Mumbai in September to host another excellent roundtable, on this occasion focusing on offshore activity in the country’s equity capital markets and likely provenance of international deal flow and issuance.

IFR’s Outlook for Indian Borrowers Roundtable took place in Singapore in December 2015. As with the Indian Credit Conference in Mumbai that had preceded it by a couple of weeks, the backdrop was IFR’s inaugural Indian Borrowers Survey, results of which are published in this supplement following the edited transcript.

Panellists at IFR’s annual Pfandbriefe Roundtable on January 21 in Frankfurt discussed a wide range of inter-related topics: the state of the market amid broad volatility; the ongoing impact of the ECB Covered Bond Purchase Programme; prospects for primary issuance in 2016; the potential for green issuance; and, on the regulatory plane, where we’re headed following the European Commission’s covered bonds consultation exercise.

IFR’s second annual Green Bond Roundtable, took place in December in the shadow of COP 21. The enormous engagement from politicians, business as well as civil society organisations and the general population at and around that meeting reflected an up-swell of support for the environmental and climate-change agenda. This was reflected, of course, in significant monetary commitments in support of the 2oC cap.

IFR’s Mexico Capital Markets Roundtable was held in Mexico City on November 5 2015, near the end of a rocky year for emerging markets and about a month before the much-anticipated interest rate hike in the US, which was expected to bring more troubles for the asset class.

IFR’s US Credit Roundtable took place on October 29, the day after the October FOMC meeting and immediately following an IFR roundtable that had explored the Fed’s thinking and room for manoeuvre, and focused more specifically on the US Treasury market.

IFR’s 2015 US Rates Roundtable took place in New York on October 29, the day after that month’s FOMC meeting, so the comments made by our distinguished panel of rates strategists and laid out in the following pages were current as of that date.

IFR’s latest German Corporate Funding Roundtable, held in Frankfurt on October 15, surveyed the financing and macro landscape not just from the debt and loan capital markets sell-side perspective; senior treasury representatives from three major German-based multinationals – Bayer, Daimler and SAP – additionally offered some fascinating insights into the corporate finance and funding panorama as viewed from the client side.

IFR’s Outlook for International Debt Capital Markets Roundtable took place on November 5, so the comments that follow were current as of that date. The discussion focused on the multiple themes that surround the bond market at a difficult but fascinating time. At the time the roundtable took place, we were then as now waiting to see if the Fed proceeds with tightening moves and if the ECB continues with easy money.

IFR’s US ECM Roundtable was held on September 15, just ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates for another month. The decision pushed expectations for the start of the rate-tightening cycle into 2016 and extended the accommodative environment that has sustained a bull market.

IFR’s 2015 Roundtable on German SME Funding, held on June 16 in Frankfurt, took place in the wake of violent swings in the bond market. Not long before the discussion, volatility in 10-year Bund futures had hit levels it hadn’t seen for three years as the broad market lost its sang-froid.

IFR’s Europe, Middle East and Africa ECM Roundtable was held on June 25 just as Greece had caused European debt issuance to slump. Yet this was an upbeat discussion held amid a flurry of issuance.

IFR’s Future of IBD Roundtable, covering the primary origination and advisory businesses (capital markets underwriting and advisory), was a fascinating foray into a key set of client-facing businesses. These are businesses that may not have been a target for re-regulatory endeavour but they are businesses that have nonetheless been directly impacted by strategic efforts afoot in play across the industry as a result as banks seek to manage the seminal transformation from bloated revenue-seeking institutions to lean return-seeking institutions.

IFR’s Securitisation Roundtable – entitled “The Great European Securitisation Debate” – took place on May 28. Even though the general market at that point had turned volatile and Bund yields had been whipsawing, it was long before Greece went into arrears with the IMF and Greeks had voted against the latest austerity package. So the following discussion needs to be read with this in mind.

The Great Bank Capital Debate rumbles on. IFR’s latest event on this evolving topic was held as the TLAC and MREL initiatives wend their way closer to final versions at the same time as banks are – to the extent the rules have been finalised or where the direction of travel is otherwise clear – fine-tuning resolution plans, working towards assumed leverage ratio minimums, and dealing with funding, liquidity and a host of other issues in a world that has become increasingly convoluted.

Private placements have received a lot of attention in Europe in the past year to 18 months. They have been captured fully by the Capital Markets Union debate in Europe as a potentially new funding alternative to bank lending for the benefit of SMEs.

IFR’s 2015 Pfandbriefe Roundtable, held in Frankfurt on January 29 following our 9th annual Covered Bonds conference, was, as ever, a fascinating affair. For all the years IFR has been hosting conferences and roundtables on this segment of the bond market, there has not been a single event that has crystallised opinion to the same extent as the 2015 vintage.

Few capital markets developments of recent years have matched the rise and rise of green bonds. The sustainable theme has taken the capital markets by storm over the past year throughout the broad ecosystem of issuers, underwriters, investors, rating agencies, second-opinion providers, industry trade bodies and NGOs

The US equity capital market is enjoying a long-awaited boost as investors thrust cash into equity funds with an enthusiasm not seen for decades. Faced with anaemic returns from fixed-income investments and racing to catch up with index gains, investors are embracing primary issuance with great verve.

Investment banking is in the midst of seminal change. The post-financial crisis era has forced a convergence of regulatory, political and cultural change factors that, together, are beyond the vagaries of mere cyclical elements. That was the essential outcome of IFR’s Future of Investment Banking Roundtable.

IFR’s latest Covered Bond Roundtable, which took place in Frankfurt on May 29, assessed developments in the covered bond market from the perspective of bank funding in the context of a highly stressed Eurozone sovereign scenario. In the context of a negative feedback loop between banks and their sovereigns, it’s essential to understand what’s driving the relationship to understand what’s happening in the covered bond market in terms of sentiment, pricing and market activity.

The future of capital securities doesn’t lie in the hands of either regulators or investment bankers. At IFR’s Bank Capital Roundtable on June 21 in London, one of the many themes that came out of the discussion was that investors will define the future of this asset class. Regulators have spent the years since the global financial crisis defining, refining and redefining the optimum bank capital adequacy framework and have broadly laid out the features they want to see in capital instruments.

It has been a remarkable year for the covered bond asset class. The record number of new issuers that have entered this market is particularly striking. So is the record widening of spreads, later culminating in an equally dramatic tightening after the ECB waved its magic wand. The prospect of new jurisdictions creating covered bonds markets, or the reintroduction of so-called fallen angels, which in some cases have been in exile for a number of years, sets the scene for an exciting 2010.

The landscape of the European government bond markets has remained in essence unchanged during the turbulence of the last nine months. All sovereign issuers have been able to rely upon their credit credentials to attract investors into financing their borrowing programmes. While sovereigns, supranational and agency issuers have found a willing and receptive audience, covered bond issuers have been spurned. As a result, the secondary market has all but disappeared for some issuers.

Although the non-core bond markets continue to be dominated by borrowers from the SSA sector, it is an area that is fast becoming key in other issuers’ thinking, not least because of the disruption they have experienced to their plans in the more developed currencies.

Once a relatively sleepy backwater of longer-term project and small-scale FI financings, the loan markets of the Middle East are now global and booming. But as hydrocarbon-fuelled corporates and sovereigns seek to diversify and pick up assets around the world using leverage, the global credit market is facing its severest liquidity test since the early 1990s. Some say the malaise is even more profound than during the last oil shock.

IFR’s UK Bond Market Roundtable, held in London on September 8, found participants in pensive but broadly optimistic mood. Sterling bond issuance has been slow all year, hamstrung by a basis swap that stubbornly refuses to budge, making it uneconomic for non-UK issuers. The same high swap spreads have made the US dollar market compelling for those UK issuers that have ventured into the market. For top UK names, sterling funding has been anything between 25bp and 45bp back of dollars this year.

Brazil’s capital markets are abuzz with behind-the-scenes activity as issuers talk to potential leads about bringing more than US$16bn worth of local and international supply in the coming months. But the tone remains cautious as issuers come to terms with wider rates and look to justify the higher costs vis-a-vis the duration of their investment programmes and their expected returns.

The sovereign market faced two main challenges this year: a growth in its own capacity to raise ever larger amounts of debt, and the additional competition posed by the government guaranteed bank sector. The participants at this year's IFR Sovereign Roundtable were generally in agreement that neither of these had significantly changed how national debt offices go about their everyday role of financing their budget deficits.

With the credit and liquidity crises continuing to be played out on the global stage, borrowers’ access to capital has become an increasingly core subject. Even as the situation persists, regulatory bodies are forging ahead with their efforts to lay the foundations of all-encompassing legislation, drafting pre-prescribed directives regarding hybrid capital, transcending jurisdictions and issuer types.

After initially encountering a number of false starts, the European hybrid capital market has become an established and welcome addition to the capital structure for many corporates. While the €6bn of public issuance in 2006 fell slightly short of volumes seen the previous year, many analysts had expected a bumper crop of supply in 2007, consistent with an increase in M&A activity in the second half of last year.

Mexico's local bond market has seen a revival in activity after a brief lull in July driven by the uncertainty surrounding this year's presidential elections. Volumes have been robust with about Ps93bn (US$8.6bn) of long-term debt being issued in the domestic markets so far this year, and some bankers reckon the market could see another Ps20bn in supply before the year ends.

Credit derivatives volumes continue to explode but dealers have convinced regulators that the market is no longer a ticking time-bomb in terms of processing problems.

The diversification options pursued by European sovereigns in recent years have firmly established the inflation-linked sector and the embryonic ultra-long market as viable and increasingly important source of funding.

IFR: Exactly a year ago, India embarked on its 12th five-year plan with a target for investment in infrastructure of US$1trn, nearly double that in the previous five-year period. Some 47% of this, that is to say US$470bn, is to come from the private sector. Before we delve deeper into where that funding is coming from, why is infrastructure development so important for India?

IFR’s annual European ECM conference in late October was perfectly timed to catch the near euphoria in equity markets at the time. Delegates were welcomed with an appearance by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, before they turned to the issues and challenges of pricing into a rising market in ECM. The day finished with a roundtable to discuss some of the subjects raised during the conference.

IFR’s third German Corporate Funding Roundtable, which took place in Frankfurt in October, was a pretty bullish affair. Combining loan and DCM bankers as well as a borrower, panellists reviewed year-to-date activity in capital markets but the session focused on expectations for issuance in the year ahead.

Eurobond Retrospective: Tales from the Front Line. Keith Mullin speaks to six veterans of the debt capital markets.

IFR hosted a fascinating roundtable recently at which a dozen senior and highly experienced DCM professionals discussed in an open forum the future directions for this key financing class under the title of “Plotting a strategic future for debt capital markets: factoring supply-side and demand drivers into the new structural paradigm”.

IFR’s 2nd annual DCM roundtable once again drew together a group of super-senior managers, originators and syndicators whose firms between them account for close to two thirds of total international bond issuance. As with the inaugural event in 2013, it was an opportune moment for the people who run this business to take stock of market developments and provide an update and insight into some of the transformational themes confronting the financing industry.

IFR’s ‘Investing in Midcap Equities’ Webinar, held in London on October 30, tackled a lot of issues at play in an interesting but often challenging segment of the equity market.

IFR’s India Offshore Finance Roundtable, held in Mumbai in September, was notable for many reasons. First of all, it took place on the day the new Modi government hit the key milestone of its first 100 days in office.

Is Germany in a credit bubble, participants were asked at IFR’s 2014 German Corporate Funding Roundtable in September. It was the final question at the end of a thoughtful and insightful discussion. The cascade of answers was enlightening: “no”, “not yet”, “no, but it’s approaching”, “we’re close” and “it’s coming and it won’t be the banks that get hurt this time”.

IFR: Phil, we’d like to start with you, if I may. What has been driving the phenomenal levels of capital formation we have seen in the IPO market?

The Mexican economy is on the cusp of dramatic changes, if prognostications about the impact of the country’s sweeping reform process hold true. In July, IFR hosted a roundtable in Mexico City where bankers, public credit officials and treasurers at some of the country’s largest corporates discussed what these changes might mean for the country’s capital markets – and some of the challenges that lie ahead.

The lack of credit in the real economy and the paucity of cash available for investment have been cited all over Europe as a major blocker of growth and investment, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. It’s an emotive issue that’s has the attention of politicians of all hues.

European Equity Capital Markets are hot. The 12 months to June 30 saw total ECM volume of US$311.5bn from 1,143 transactions. By dollar and deal number that is the highest since 2007, but it seems even longer ago for those that survived the three years of famine, 2010–2012.

For the second year running, IFR hosted a well-attended seminar during the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting, held this time in Kazakhstan’s gleaming new capital, Astana. Part of the ADB’s official knowledge-sharing programme, the luncheon event brought together a panel of experts to discuss the development of Asian bond markets at a time when the ADB and other public sector bodies are working hard to promote Asia’s capital markets as an alternative to traditional bank finance.

IFR’s second Schuldscheine Roundtable, held in Frankfurt on March 11, attracted the market’s top originators who were keen to talk about the product’s role in Europe’s nascent private placement market and where we are likely to see activity emerge in the coming year.