Global high-grade issuers burst out of the gates in the first few trading days of 2025 to print A$9.1 billion of new bonds in the first full week of the year and A$10.9 billion since the start of the year. Records abound for issuers and market participants remain broadly optimistic about demand from global investors, though flow may well ease in the near term.

Thinking in global markets is turning hard to the nature of the looming inflection point for monetary policy. Central banks may not cut, or at least not far, unless the pain being felt in global economies metastasises into unemployment and other symptoms of spare capacity. Despite this uncertainty – and many others – issuers were able to make hay in H1, including in an Australian market that has experienced unprecedented scale and consistency of demand. Participants at the annual ANZ-KangaNews global funding roundtable, which took place in London in June, surveyed the landscape.

Monetary, market and geopolitical conditions continue to shift at a heightened pace. But global supranational, sovereign and agency issuers say their approach to debt issuance and other positive factors – including conducive conditions for Australian dollar supply – allow them to stay ahead of the curve.

In October 2023, KangaNews and UBS hosted female leaders from the supranational, sovereign and agency sector – live in Sydney and via VC globally – at a roundtable to discuss the state of capital markets and the role of these institutions in promoting sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion.

The New Zealand capital market is working its way through regulatory changes and awaiting certainty on the turn of the rates cycle. But domestic and international high-grade market participants who joined a roundtable discussion hosted by KangaNews and Westpac in July say the direction of travel is largely positive.