Long-anticipated mandatory climate reporting for corporate Australia took a step closer to reality in January as the Australian government published its draft legislation for the forthcoming regime. Industry experts speak to KangaNews about what it means for businesses – and who will be ready for the task.

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.

KangaNews is proud to announce the winners of the institutional and deal categories in the KangaNews Awards 2023. At the end of another busy year in the Australian and New Zealand capital markets, KangaNews received votes from hundreds of market participants keen to recognise the achievements of 2023's most outstanding performers.

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority suspects the major banks’ additional tier-one funding instruments are increasing risk in the sector. The regulator has reopened the debate about the amount of this form of capital in banks’ mix and the appropriateness of AT1 for retail investors.

The KangaNews Mutual Sector Wholesale Funding Seminar brings together leaders from mutual banks across Australia, to share intelligence on the sector, its competition and growth prospects, and funding options. The 2023 event, hosted on 30 August, featured wide-ranging insights into relevant topics from consolidation to cyber security.

The primary focus of sustainable finance has traditionally been climate change mitigation: providing capital to decarbonise the economy and thus, it is hoped, minimise the scale of global heating. But with higher temperatures baked in – and more warming guaranteed to come – swathes of Australia increasingly need financing solutions to respond to climate change that is already here.

The KangaNews Sustainable Debt Summit 2023 featured its most wide-ranging agenda ever, taking in hot button topics across the sustainable finance landscape. Sessions covered carbon offsetting and trading, the rise of biodiversity as a focus area, the shift from mitigation finance to also include adaptation, as well as a raft of other critical areas of concern.

Green bonds have surged in use in recent years, but the future growth and effectiveness of the market is threatened by difficulties aligning the credit quality of an issuer and ensuring proceeds are used to fund green projects. In the first of a pair of articles discussing the cutting edge of sustainable finance, King & Wood Mallesons partners Jo Dodd, Urszula McCormack and Dale Rayner discuss tech-based solutions to the problem.

One of the key risks financial institutions face today is the complex legal and regulatory landscape that has developed to address the challenges of climate change. Edwina Kwan, partner at King & Wood Mallesons, explains that the targets of climate litigation have gradually diversified.

Conversations at the KangaNews Debt Capital Market Summit, which took place in Sydney on 20 March, naturally focused on the fallout from bank collapses that immediately preceded the event. The overall view was that relatively positive conditions in the fixed-income market would be reshaped but perhaps not fundamentally weakened by the emerging developments.