Ralph Sinclair

Will Andy Burnham outfox the bond market when he becomes UK prime minister? Click here to listen to the latest episode of the GlobalCapital Podcast. Andy Burnham looks set to become the next UK prime minister, following the resignation of Keir Starmer on Monday. But how will the new man in 10 Downing Street get along with the bond market? One of his predecessors, Liz Truss, managed fixed income relations so badly, it cost her her job and made her term the shortest in the history of the office.

The Iran war has kept the Middle East's bond issuers largely at bay but with the path to peace now clearer, issuance conditions have improved. But even this might not be enough to tempt borrowers back to the primary bond market en masse. We discover why. We also analyse a new report on the digitalisation of wholesale finance and discuss why capital markets might be one of the last bits of finance to go digital.

Bpifrance achieved a world first this week, pricing the inaugural European Secured Note. The deal was a success but it has taken about a decade to get the product from concept to market. The question is now where next for ESNs? This twist on a covered bond has clear applications as a capital market instrument that can help fund the real economy but it could be argued that its future lies in the hands of the regulators and how they choose to treat it.