Banks

After 18 months of difficult headlines Credit Suisse could ill afford more negative press, and we therefore welcomed its decision to refinance its 7.125% Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bond last week at its first call date.

The past couple of weeks have seen a flurry of new issuance as rates and credit markets have stabilised, and the European summer lull is approaching fast.

Despite the ECB's recent review bringing some previously debated points surrounding AT1s to the forefront, we believe any changes would create undesired, real-world consequences if implemented.

The reshaping of Deutsche Bank since the end of the global financial crisis has been one of the longest-running transformation stories in the banking sector.

Global bond markets have moved sharply in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as investors have tried to assess the impact of an unprecedented raft of financial and economic sanctions. Mark Holman looks at the potential implications for inflation and growth, and highlights some areas of fixed income where yields have risen to near-crisis levels.

European bank equity has been among the hardest hit sectors since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as fears of losses and a flight to quality have prompted investors to change positioning.

As 2021 wore on we became increasingly concerned that the disconnect between asset prices, economic fundamentals and monetary policy was becoming more acute.

Inflation was the dominant theme across financial markets in 2021, and we think it is likely to be a big driver of returns again in 2022.

As bondholders, we are comforted by all the banks passing such a severe test.

TwentyFour Asset Management's annual conference took place virtually for the second year running on September 15 & 16, with hundreds of attendees tuning in live for interactive sessions with TwentyFour's portfolio management team. All the insights from the Multi-Sector team are now available

We agree that banks are sitting with an abundance of excess capital and will use some of it to repay shareholder support. However, capital buffers will remain elevated for some time to come,

In TwentyFour's Multi-Sector Bond update on Thursday 13th May 2021, Partner & Portfolio Manager Eoin Walsh provided an update on investment themes and positioning in the fixed income market.