IFR ASIA/LPC: Richard, do you agree with Michel on the pricing that you see in secondary markets on loans? Do you buy them at those kind of levels and are they attractive? Richard Monnington, PruCap: I might answer this in two ways because my book tends to focus on high-grade. So if we are seeing underlying names that are starting to show signs of distress they might be interesting, but they wouldn’t really suit our portfolio. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t be attractive to other pools of

IFR ASIA/LPC: A warm welcome to everyone and a very good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time. Justin, could you please give us a brief overview of the year so far in syndicated loans for this business? Do you find it has changed and become more challenging? Justin Crane, StanChart: Yes, I think it has certainly become more challenging, especially for a bank that is a significant player in the market if loan volume drops by 9% year-on-year and deal count drops by 11%. And this is based on wh

IFR Asia/LPC Evolution of Asian Loans Roundtable 2016: Roundtable participants Justin Crane Standard Chartered Justin Crane is global head of loan syndicate & distribution at Standard Chartered based in Singapore. Before joining Standard Chartered in February 2013, Crane was with Credit Suisse in Singapore and prior to that with Citigroup in Hong Kong. He started his banking career at Barclays in 1996, where he worked for 12 years in the United Kingdom and Asia.   Kaili Jen CTBC Bank Kaili J

Asian loan markets are at a crossroads. 2016 has been a dismal year for the product with volumes declining to a three-year low amid market volatility, slow economic growth and limited M&A activity. The 12% year-on-year drop in the first nine months of 2016 compounds a similar decline in the same period in 2015, which was already reeling from a slowing Chinese economy. When participants in the Syndicated Loans Roundtable met in mid-October, one of them commented that we live in a world of ‘VU