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US boutique banks carry far higher capital costs than European universal lenders, with Evercore’s 9.65% WACC running at more than six times the 1.49% recorded by Crédit Agricole, according to new estimates compiled for icorp.co.uk. Estimated WACC by bank (%) Sources: Yahoo Finance; Federal Reserve (FRED); European Central Bank. Equity risk premium: 5.0% (Damodaran, NYU…
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Electronic trading in US corporate bonds continued to gain ground in May 2026, with the three main fully electronic platforms collectively handling an estimated $26.6bn in average daily volume against a TRACE investment-grade and high-yield universe of $59.7bn, lifting the panel’s combined share of overall market activity to 44.6% from 43.5% in April. MarketAxess posted…
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Global exchange-traded funds reached a record $23.08tn in assets under management at the end of May, with year-to-date net inflows hitting an unprecedented $1.07tn, according to data published by ETFGI, an independent research and consultancy firm. The figures mark the strongest start to any year on record for the ETF industry. Net inflows during May…
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The UK has launched its first consolidated tape for bonds, providing investors with a single real-time source of pricing and trading data across the bond market for the first time. The service, operated by ETS Connect UK under a five-year contract supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority, covers 98 per cent of in-scope bond trading.…
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Bloomberg and DirectBooks have launched an integration that automates primary bond market workflows, enabling institutional investors to manage orders and allocations electronically rather than through manual processes. The collaboration connects DirectBooks with TSOX, Bloomberg’s fixed income execution management system, allowing clients to route orders directly into syndicate orderbooks and receive allocation messages back electronically. The…
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MarketAxess Holdings reported a recovery in trading volumes across most products in May 2026, with its estimated US high-grade market share rising approximately 100 basis points to 17.8 per cent from April levels. The electronic fixed-income trading platform operator said the improvement was driven by increased market share in the client-initiated channel. The company estimated…
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AM Best has assigned a long-term issue credit rating of “aa” (Superior) with a stable outlook to $2bn in 30-year surplus notes to be issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. The New York-based insurer plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including financing related to asset manager Nuveen’s acquisition of…
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Eurex has released its fixed income and currencies weekly market report for calendar week 24, providing data on exchange-traded derivatives, over-the-counter products, foreign exchange and repo markets. The Frankfurt-based exchange operator also highlighted several product developments in its latest communications. These include the launch of ECB-dated €STR futures, which are cash-settled index futures based on…
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The head of the London Stock Exchange has warned that a proposed consolidated tape for UK equities could harm market integrity unless regulators impose stricter requirements on all trading participants. Julia Hoggett, chief executive of London Stock Exchange plc, said the Financial Conduct Authority’s planned pre-trade tape — a single feed aggregating buy and sell…
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Broadridge Financial Solutions’ distributed ledger repo platform processed $7.2tn in transactions during May, with daily volumes averaging $362bn — a 220 per cent increase compared with the same month last year. The figures, disclosed by the New York-listed financial technology company on June 8 2026, reflect growing institutional adoption of tokenised settlement systems in capital…