Top Stories

• Banks plot revolution in loan pricing by using CDS spreads

  Syndicated loan bankers and corporate borrowers in Europe reacted with a mixture of approval, concern and outrage this week to the introduction in the US of a new way of setting loan margins according to credit default swaps. read more »

• CDS market skips to squash $62tr notional as Fed cracks the whip

  Creditex and Markit this week announced a new method of compressing the notional principal of CDS portfolios, in a move that makes clear just how hard regulators are breathing down the CDS market’s neck to reduce its huge headline size of $62tr. read more »

• Bond markets wallow in misery but EIB, KfW eye euros for next week

  The global primary bond markets this week resembled a hostile wasteland in which few issuers dared break cover, as bad news mounted steadily and sentiment slipped from poor to horrid. read more »

• B&B humiliated as suitor TPG jilts it before sale

  Bradford & Bingley lurched into a new crisis last night (Thursday) as people close to Texas Pacific Group said it was pulling out of its planned £179m investment in the UK bank, on the grounds that Moody’s was about to downgrade it from A3 to Baa1. read more »

People & Markets

• TJ Lim, Hammond to co-head UniCredit MIB

  TJ Lim is back in investment banking after a five year absence spent running NewSmith Financial Products, a firm he founded five years ago with former colleagues from Merrill Lynch. read more »

• Southpaw: Pandit’s pay reform has failed once already

  Citigroup has joined the small group of investment banks that plan to reform their bonus policies to encourage more responsible and collegiate behaviour. But as David Rothnie writes, Citi’s CEO Vikram Pandit has tried the idea before, at Morgan Stanley. He may have a stronger hand at Citigroup, but this still looks like a half-hearted attempt. read more »

• The Naked Broker: Camera-shy on the trading floor

  Thursday evenings are dedicated to client entertainment. Promoting bonhomie that will eventually yield commission is the stated aim, but when the Naked Broker goes out he has three things on his mind: drinkin’, fightin’ and philanderin’. read more »

• Declan McGrath bound for Dubai as RBS credit chief

  EuroWeek understands that Declan McGrath, one of London’s best known syndicated loans bankers, is set to achieve his long-held ambition of moving to the Middle East. read more »

• Levfin chief quits Merrill Lynch

  Andrew McCullagh, head of leveraged finance for Europe, the Middle and Asia at Merrill Lynch, resigned last week, EuroWeek has learned. read more »

Inside EuroWeek

• Germany1 takes Eu275m aim at Mittelstand
• ABS industry unveils transparency initiative
• Vodafone out to refi $5.5bn, paying more for shorter tenor