The KangaNews-Westpac Institutional Bank Corporate Debt Summit 2023 took place in Sydney in mid-October. A record number of delegates gathered to discuss the present and future of the Australian corporate environment, from the economic outlook and business conditions to the forthcoming impact of generative AI. In the mix was a steady but unspectacular corporate bond issuance environment that belies fundamental growth in domestic credit.

The Australian Securitisation Forum’s 2023 annual conference attracted a record number of delegates – well over a thousand attended – and offered its most wide-ranging agenda ever. The securitisation industry has navigated higher rates and increasing global uncertainty well to date, with record volume printing in 2023 and a notable uptick in collateral diversity. The road ahead may be tricky but the market is facing it with confidence.

Energy transition will affect every nation, business and individual, and the scale of the task – and the resulting upheaval – is only now starting to become a stark reality. Fitch Ratings and KangaNews gathered Australian and New Zealand capital market participants representing the full power supply chain and the buy side to discuss with Fitch’s analysts what is coming down the pike.

On 1 November, Fitch Ratings hosted its inaugural Women in Credit event in Sydney to align with its core values of embracing diversity, equity and inclusion. More than 20 female institutional investors attended the event, hearing and commenting on Fitch analysts’ views on the geopolitical, business and finance landscape, and trends and challenges for the buy side to watch.

The publication of the 2023 Fitch Ratings-KangaNews Fixed Income Investor Sentiment Survey marks the 10th anniversary of this unique insight into the thinking of the Australian buy side. With a decade of data history now available, KangaNews has reviewed outcomes from across the years to identify trends and preferences that only emerge over time.

The 2023 iteration of the Fitch Ratings-KangaNews Fixed-Income Investor Sentiment Survey came at a major inflection point for credit and rates product, as investors provided responses in late March and early April – shortly after bank failures rocked global markets. The survey response suggests investors are more concerned about what these events portend for economies and markets than the direct risk of contagion.

Resimac says asset managers were the main supporters of its latest nonconforming residential mortgage-backed securities offering, which priced on 13 April. The borrower says previously wary investors are showing more confidence to take part in primary market offerings as volatility continues to ease.

The Australian and New Zealand securitisation sector has grown significantly in recent years, driven by a proliferation of nonbank lenders. With rates rising for the first time in years and an economic downturn on the horizon, the market is readying itself for ongoing challenges. But participants at the Australian Securitisation Forum’s annual conference, which attracted a record attendance to Sydney at the end of 2022, say the industry is well positioned to manage them.

After a year of limited capital market issuance – domestically and offshore – there might be grounds for pessimism in the Australian corporate debt market. But a group of analysts, issuers and investors who gathered at a discussion hosted by Fitch Ratings and KangaNews in November 2022 say Australian credits are relatively well positioned as and when confidence returns to the market, despite the obvious challenges of the past year.

The Australian nonbank securitisation market has been a story of almost unimpeded progress for the past decade or more. It is facing new challenges in 2022 and its resilience is being tested in more ways than one. But market participants retain confidence in the nonbank sector’s overall health and the value proposition of its core funding instrument.