Europe

It has been two weeks since the primary market for collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) re-opened and 2025 has already proven to be quite a year from multiple angles.

Given modest interest rate cut projections, a stable if not stellar macro backdrop and better relative value than corporate credit, we think European ABS investors can expect another strong year of supply and returns in 2025.

The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has been the flagship climate initiative for banks to advertise their commitment to aligning their investment and lending portfolios with net-zero targets by 2050 or sooner. However, in recent weeks the NZBA has been hit with the withdrawal of all its major Wall Street banks.

It has been a busy start to 2025 in fixed income markets. After the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish December dot plot, which added fuel to a sell-off in rates last month, you might have thought primary market activity would be more cautious than both issuers and investors would have anticipated a month ago.

Primary market and trading activity may be declining as is typical in late December, but macro data doesn’t sleep, and central banks haven’t got the memo on the wind-down into year-end either with policy meetings at the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Bank of England (BoE) scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

With analysts steadily publishing their projections for 2025 (ours are here), the macro variables that tend to get the spotlight are naturally growth and inflation.

With a macro backdrop of falling rates and solid global growth, TwentyFour Asset Management's Eoin Walsh says fixed income investors can expect healthy total returns in 2025.

Last week, members of TwentyFour’s asset-backed securities (ABS) portfolio management team were in Dana Point, California for the Opal Group CLO Summit, an annual event with over 2,000 participants made up of investors, bankers, CLO managers, service providers and lawyers.

As most analysts expected, the French parliament on Wednesday brought the metaphorical guillotine down on Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s minority government. The no-confidence motion, brought by an alliance of left-wing parties while Barnier was attempting to pass a budget, was supported by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party.

It is important to understand the historical context behind “global” capital rules, and why they differ for EU and US banks.

An asset-backed finance (ABF) investment backed by a portfolio of Dutch unsecured consumer loans originated by Qander Consumer Finance.

Thanksgiving week is usually a lighter one when it comes to data releases in the US. Apart from a PCE and core PCE inflation numbers that came in line with expectations at 2.3% and 2.8% respectively, there has not been much data to move the dial. In Europe, on the other hand, there have been a few data releases and central banker interviews that are worth commenting on.