Online articles

• A new phase of funding maturity for Kāinga Ora

  Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities has been building the curve for Housing New Zealand Limited bonds since its market return three years ago. The agency’s Wellington-based treasurer, Jason Bligh, assesses progress after a successful if turbulent 2020 and ahead of a forthcoming online investor day to be hosted on the KangaNews events hub.

• Across the board in New Zealand

  The ANZ-KangaNews New Zealand Capital Markets Forum returned to Wellington as an in-person conference in June. Discussion at the event covered a raft of issues relevant to the local debt market. These include the post-pandemic recovery, inflation prospects, New Zealand’s housing crisis and developing the local sustainable-debt market.

• Adding sustainability to the inflation-linked bond renaissance

  The two most discussed concepts in today’s debt capital market could well be the ever-growing relevance of sustainable finance and the return of inflation as a live consideration. FTSE Russell and Refinitiv – now aligned under common ownership – have brought the two together in an innovative new index offering.

• Asia Pacific the crucible of geopolitics-ESG intersection

  While headlines focus on Asia-Pacific territorial and trade disputes, arguably the more significant trend is China’s accumulation of soft power. Participants in a session at the KangaNews Debt Capital Markets Summit 2021 highlighted the environmental, social and governance arena as one to watch.

• Australia’s first SLB goes to the heart of transition

  Wesfarmers says its sustainability-linked bond – the first in the Australian dollar market – lays out ambitious targets and addresses the group’s hard-to-abate business unit. The transaction also demonstrates willingness on the part of Australian dollar investors to engage with bespoke KPIs on the basis of a one-way pricing penalty if the issuer fails to hit its targets.

• Australian credit market’s big winners

  Australian corporate and nonbank borrowers have made the most of a playing field left open to them by the absence of major-bank senior bond issuance since early 2020. Whether the credit market remains as deep for these borrowers once banks return is one of the biggest questions heading into the second half of 2021.

• Australian housing takes off… again

  Australian house prices have once again defied expectations, this time from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, by resuming a seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory. While the Reserve Bank of Australia continues to insist rate hikes are not coming in the medium term, speculation is mounting about macroprudential intervention and financial-stability risk.

• Back on track in the New Zealand high-grade market

  At the start of June, KangaNews and Westpac brought together New Zealand’s biggest government-sector issuers in Wellington to discuss the path of their market from the depths of the crisis back to functionality, the new challenges of 2021 and the outlook for a raft of factors – including sustainable-finance evolution, inflation-linked issuance and the long-dated market.

• COVID-19 clouds part in the sunshine state

  Queensland’s budget reveals an improving state economy including upgraded revenue projections. Nonetheless, the state government is keen to continue spurring the recovery via fiscal stimulus. Queensland’s treasurer and minister for investment, Cameron Dick, discusses the latest budget measures and forecasts, while Queensland Treasury Corporation’s chief executive, Philip Noble, expands on the state’s debt funding...

• False dichotomies

  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.

• First in, first out

  Victoria has been at the tip of the spear in Australia’s state-by-state fight against COVID-19, coping with a protracted lockdown through mid-2020 and a new outbreak of the pandemic in June 2021. As the state emerged from its latest lockdown – just as other states were confronting emergency countermeasures of their own – Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, talks to KangaNews about government support and investment...

• Guardian Trust expands capability in growing NZ securitisation market

  Guardian Trust is implementing Moody’s Analytics’ ABS Suite to position itself for expected growth in the New Zealand securitisation market. The trustee says it intends to provide its clients with more insightful analytics and enhanced service offerings as a result of the tie up.

• Into the rising tide

  Global and local regulators released a swathe of guidelines in the first half of 2021 regarding the incorporation of climate risk into financial institutions’ standard risk-assessment processes. The Australian prudential regulator and banks are largely aligned with the global direction of travel. But they face the unique challenge of managing risk in the face of the issue’s deep politicisation.

• KangaNews Fixed-Income Research Poll 2021: results announced

  KangaNews is pleased to reveal the results of its 11th annual Fixed-Income Research Poll, a survey that asks institutional investors in the Australian fixed-income market to rank the research they receive across a range of sectors.

• Market function at a critical juncture

  The KangaNews Debt Capital Markets Summit 2021 virtual event took place on 9 June, ahead of another important period for the Australian economy and market’s emergence from the COVID-19 crisis. Discussions throughout the day reiterated the importance of Reserve Bank of Australia policy settings for determining the path of both.

• Mutual banks: growth, and funding for growth

  Australia’s mutual banks are innovating in response to sector-wide issues. Participants at the KangaNews Mutual Sector Wholesale Funding Seminar 2021 – which took place in Sydney in May – discussed an evolving business and funding environment, and how mutual banks can deliver in their areas of competitive advantage.

• New Zealand's buy side speaks out

  In May, BNZ and KangaNews carried out an unprecedented survey of New Zealand’s institutional fixed-income investors as the first step in a bank project to identify and progress challenges and opportunities facing the local market. Having digested the results of the survey, BNZ also hosted a panel of investors to discuss its results in more detail.

• Nonbank securitisation bonanza ahead of TFF end

  Intermediaries say factors including record pricing and the imminent end of the term funding facility supported a frenetic period of nonbank securitisation issuance from mid-April to early May. Deal flow was well absorbed by a market that has been undersupplied with new credit issuance.

• Shifting sands change dynamics for Australia's government-sector issuers

  KangaNews and Westpac Institutional Bank hosted their annual roundtable for Australia’s sovereign and semi-government issuers in June – via audioconference, as the discussion happened as many Australian states were re-entering lockdown following the latest outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the sting in the pandemic’s tail, issuers are confident about the resilience and functionality of their market as they enter new...

• SLLs flavour of the month in Australia and New Zealand

  A raft of new facilities completed in Q2 marks the sustainability-linked loan as the vogue product for corporate borrowers seeking to align their funding operations with business-wide sustainability strategies. Borrowers are emerging across a wealth of sectors, though the new facilities are not without controversy.