Online articles

• A refreshed approach to retail corporate bonds

  Jason Falinski, federal member for Mackellar and chair of the House of Representatives’ standing committee on tax and revenue, discusses the committee’s inquiry into the Australian corporate bond market and how he hopes it will stimulate retail issuance.

• Australian credit market confident on economic recovery and market outlook

  Australia’s corporate debt market has performed well despite two years of pandemic-related disruption to businesses and – at times – market function. Participants at a Fitch Ratings-KangaNews roundtable at the end of 2021 discuss market evolution, the 2022 outlook and the prospect of further sustainability integration into fixed income.

• Credit investors look beyond the horizon

  Fixed-income investors expect to be tested further in 2022 as the beginning of a rising rate cycle looms. However, credit fund managers say solid corporate earnings from the last financial year and a robust forecast economic rebound should ensure an ongoing pipeline of opportunities.

• EIB cements climate-bank status in global market

  European Investment Bank is accelerating issuance of use-of-proceeds sustainability bonds, breaking new ground in noncore currencies and leading the development of sustainable finance. In 2021, the supranational also recorded its best Kangaroo issuance year since 2010, driven largely by its sustainability programme. Dominika Rosolowska, sustainability funding officer, and Jorge Grasa, public markets funding...

• Farm-level delivery highlights Pāmu’s debut SLL

  Pāmu’s debut sustainability-linked loan marks a step forward in sophistication and detail for this type of structure in New Zealand – according to the borrower and the bilateral facility’s lender, Westpac New Zealand. The three-year, NZ$85 million (US$60.1 million) deal incorporates four sustainability-performance targets, measured down to the level of Pāmu’s nationwide portfolio of 114 farms with equally weighted...

• Funding outlook a return to normal not a spike, Australian big four report

  KangaNews and RBC Capital Markets hosted their annual Australian bank funding roundtable in November 2021 at an important juncture for the sector. The pandemic – or, more accurately, the government and central-bank response to the pandemic – had a profound impact on Australian major-bank funding.

• Getting to grips with the future of work

  COVID-19 has profoundly affected how people work, especially in largely urban, professional industries like capital markets. As part of the 2021 Australian Securitisation Forum virtual conference, leaders with a range of perspectives shared their views on whether the shift to wide-scale home working will persist in the long term, how it affects equity across the workforce – particularly through a gender lens – and...

• KangaNews Awards 2021: institution and deal winners announced

  KangaNews is proud to announce the winners of the institutional and deal categories in the KangaNews Awards 2021. At the end of another hectic year in the Australian and New Zealand capital markets, KangaNews received votes from hundreds of market participants keen to recognise the achievements of 2021's most outstanding performers.

• New lease of life for blockchain bonds

  Advocates touted early issuance of blockchain bonds as a sign of things to come but the market went quiet after a few transactions. Market participants say the blockchain-bond dream is alive, however, as recent central-bank moves to create digital currencies could solve several issues in the initial deals and help reboot the whole concept.

• New Zealand issuers flock to ESG debt funding

  Corporate and government-sector issuers from New Zealand took massive steps forward in sustainable debt funding in the last quarter of 2021 as a flood of transactions came to market. Issuers tapped the domestic, Australian and euro bond markets for use-of-proceeds funding while the steady flow of sustainability-linked loan facility completions also continued.

• New Zealand moves forward with climate action

  New Zealand’s resolve to address climate change accelerated in late 2021 as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the External Reporting Board detailed plans to introduce stress tests and standards underpinning mandatory climate-reporting legislation. The moves follow New Zealand’s pledge at COP26 to reduce emissions by 50 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030, an update from the previous 30 per cent commitment.

• Offshore securitisation back on the menu for nonbanks

  Market talk is growing about a potential return to offshore issuance by Australian securitisation sponsors – including some nonmortgage asset-backed securities – if, as expected, issuance needs remain high while domestic market tailwinds abate. Australian investors note recent and expected developments in the credit market could soften demand and issuers are already starting to venture offshore once more.

• Predictors of default: Refinitiv’s StarMine models continue to perform

  Refinitiv’s StarMine credit-risk models have been around since 2011 and the company says investors are increasingly turning to them as they grapple with risk management and alpha generation during the pandemic and now a rising interest-rate environment. The added challenges of the last two years led StarMine to review its models and performance, but its predictive powers have held during these turbulent years.

• Retail push revived

  Answering a referral from the federal treasurer, the Australian parliament’s tax and revenue committee published a report in October 2021 with 12 recommendations designed to kickstart a local retail corporate bond market. Market participants – including several who appeared at committee public hearings during the pre-report inquiry – are cautiously optimistic about the outcome.

• Sailing into the wind

  The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s final guidance on a principles-based approach to ensuring financial institutions appropriately manage climate-related financial risk comes as a growing cohort of nations signal intentions to introduce mandatory regimes. Some observers compliment the Australian approach while others fear it could exacerbate jurisdictional divergence.

• That's a wrap

  Coming to the end of the second year of pandemic-affected markets and working practices, it feels appropriate to reflect on the journey and speculate on what the future holds. We may not even be particularly close to the final end of the pandemic but those of us lucky enough to live in the developed world can at least hope for a less mitigated existence in 2022. We do not yet know how different...