Hans-Joerg Rudloff, widely regarded as a titan of the bond market and a man who for half a century shaped global finance and several institutions around his vision, died on December 1 aged 85.

Canada’s top five banks easily beat earnings expectations in their latest financial quarter as revenue from investment banking and trading surged, sealing a buoyant year that saw several of them gain share on rivals.

Britain has reduced the minimum capital requirement for its banks in the latest evidence that regulators across the world are relaxing rules put in place after the financial crisis – and are putting greater focus on improving lenders' competitiveness compared with US rivals.

HSBC is "doubling down" on its M&A advisory and equity capital markets businesses in Asia and the Middle East with the aim of being a top-five bank in those areas, said chief executive Georges Elhedery.

Bankers and investors are bracing for a flood of AI-related debt issuance that is likely to change the composition of the investment-grade bond indices and the way the asset class assesses fair value for borrowers higher up the credit spectrum.  

Altice International's bondholders were left reeling last week after the troubled telecoms company, with more than €8bn of debt, changed the status of two subsidiaries, putting their assets out of reach of creditors.

India’s bond yields eased after the Reserve Bank of India cut the benchmark repo rate by 25bp to 5.25% on Friday, with inflation at its lowest level in a decade while GDP growth remains resilient.

Dexus Finance took full advantage of the booming hybrid market last week to raise A$500m (US$330m) from a sale of dual-tranche subordinated notes that was over five times covered despite significant price traction.

About US$350bn of US CLOs may be refinanced or reset next year as investors take advantage of tightening spreads across the capital structure to improve returns to investors in the most junior portion of the funds. 

German renewables platform Enpal priced its second solar ABS, a €303m transaction that marks a milestone for Europe’s capital markets by bringing heat pump receivables into the public securitisation arena for the first time.

Melbourne-based nonbank lender BC Invest expanded the Australian CMBS issuer base on Friday with the A$600m (US$396m) BC Invest Voyager CMBS Trust 2025-1.

Bluepeak is preparing to issue its first fibre securitisation, adding to this year's boom in issuance backed by digital infrastructure assets, spurred by rising data usage at home and in offices. 

HSBC has been accused of "climate backsliding" as the bank continues its push to commercialise its approach to sustainability and frame it as a driver of growth. 

LondonMetric Property landed a successful debut deal in the sterling market on Wednesday through a £500m dual-tranche green bond offering.

Volkswagen Bank demonstrated the depth of liquidity in the euro investment-grade market even at this late stage of the year, pulling in more than €9bn of peak orders for its €2.5bn triple-tranche senior preferred green bond transaction on Wednesday.

The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials has released an updated standard with new methodologies and clearer guidance that will make it easier for banks and other financial institutions to track emissions across more financial products. 

HashKey Holdings, the operator of Hong Kong’s largest licensed cryptocurrency exchange, is testing investors' appetite for virtual assets in Asia with a Hong Kong IPO that is much smaller than it had hoped.

Iren turbocharged its transition from bitcoin miner to high-performance computing AI mainstay with a dramatic US$3.6bn three-part equity-linked raise on Tuesday that saw it flush dilution from existing CBs that were deeply in the money.

Wealthfront is taking a safety-first approach towards its Nasdaq IPO by selling shares at a very reasonable valuation while securing upfront commitments from BlackRock and Wellington Management.

Shares in Moore Threads Technology soared more than 400% on their trading debut after the Chinese manufacturer of graphics processing units raised Rmb8bn (US$1.1bn) from a Shanghai Star IPO.

Netflix is backing its planned US$82.7bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division with a US$59bn bridge loan, viewed by the banking community as a signal that more large M&A deals will make their way to debt capital markets in 2026.

European companies are hacking away at a looming wall of 2028 maturities, taking on a mammoth task to help borrowers refinance before conditions turn.

The US$12.25bn financing package supporting Blackstone and TPG's buyout of diagnostic and medical imaging company Hologic includes a US$2bn second-lien tranche, an increasingly rare structure in a market now dominated by unitranche financing.

Banks are holding the line against attempts by private equity sponsors to use fierce competition for financing mandates in the European leveraged loan market to drive through unusually low underwriting fees.