Online articles

• New Zealand takes on the housing behemoth

  Housing affordability has been a critical issue in New Zealand for some time but a price explosion in 2020 has heightened the national focus. The government has announced a suite of policies to tackle the issue but efforts to press gang monetary and regulatory policy into service have run into resistance.

• Australia’s big emitters strong on governance but lacking investment for transition

  Australian companies included in the Climate Action 100+ benchmark display strong governance and disclosure but material commitments to investment and near-term GHG reduction are lacking. KangaNews spoke to Laura Hillis, Melbourne-based director, Climate Action 100+ at the Investor Group on Climate Change, about the aims, methodology and Australian results from the benchmark report.

• Australian securitisers avert disaster EU in regulatory overhaul

  The outcome of new EU securitisation regulations that passed into law on 25 March is more positive for Australian issuers than was feared when the changes were first proposed. Some challenges remain, but it now seems likely that the worst-case scenario – European investors being effectively precluded from participation in Australian-origin transactions – has been averted.

• Balancing act

  Bank balance sheets are the component of the Australian capital market that has been most profoundly affected by the pandemic. The dramatic fall in bank wholesale-debt issuance has been much discussed, but the impact on demand across asset classes is almost as significant.

• Fixed-income investor survey: pandemic risks abating

  The 2021 iteration of the Fitch Ratings-KangaNews Fixed-Income Investor Sentiment Survey suggests Australian investor concern about COVID-19-related risk has eased. The buy side expects lending conditions to loosen further and net issuance to rise across asset classes – all predicated on the expectation of and reliance on support from ongoing unconventional monetary policy.

• Fuel injected

  Every data print adds weight to the belief that Australia is booming. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that this does not appear to be base effect: business and consumer confidence are well above their levels from immediately before the pandemic. Understanding how and why this has happened might make it possible to avoid mistakes in the next phase of the cycle.

• INFINZ Young Women in Finance

  CFA Societies Australia (CFASA) comprises associations – based in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth – of local investment professionals engaged in a wide variety of roles. These include corporate finance, portfolio management, security analysis and investment advice.

• IPL and G8 SLLs show sustainable-funding support for social and hard-to-abate outcomes

  Incitec Pivot has completed a sustainability-linked loan (SLL) facility, a development the borrower and its sustainability structurer say demonstrates how this type of financing can be relevant even for companies in hard-to-abate sectors. In a further development for the Australian SLL market, G8 Education also recently signed a new facility with KPIs primarily linked to social outcomes.

• New Zealand sustainable debt lines up a conversion

  The New Zealand economy includes a clutch of sectors with significant potential to use sustainable finance to fund environmental transition. While some of the most prominent – including agriculture and transportation – will likely have to clear hurdles to align with capital markets, local sustainable-finance bankers are confident New Zealand is set for a step change in issuance.

• NRW.BANK’s social ambitions come to fruition

  Developing a product that would work in the Australian dollar market was a stated goal of NRW.BANK when it put together its social-bond programme. In the wake of the issuer’s Kangaroo social-bond debut, its Düsseldorf-based head of investor relations, Frank Richter, discusses delivery of a new programme under pandemic conditions, Australian domestic investor engagement and Kangaroo pricing.

• The IBOR clock keeps ticking

  Updates in early 2021 confirm that there will be no reprieve for the international IBOR complex and only a temporary stay of execution for some specific rates. Market participants say Australasia – where rates based on bank bills will continue to exist, at least for the time being – is still insufficiently engaged with the transition process, including in the context of all-important cross-currency swaps.

• Women in New Zealand Capital Markets Roundtable

  In 2020, KangaNews launched its Women in Capital Markets Yearbook with a focus on amplifying female voices in the Australian market. The publication received widespread positive response, including requests from New Zealand to bring a similar project to the other side of the Tasman Sea. On 8 March this year – International Women’s Day – KangaNews hosted its first roundtable discussion exclusively featuring female...