insto - Australian financial markets

New Australian Bankers’ Association head Steven Munchenberg has been very restrained in his comments since his appointment was announced, but that may be because he is still under contract to his outgoing employer, the NAB.

Rentenbank, Germany's development agency for agribusiness (rated Aaa/AAA/AAA), has launched a new A$300 million 5-year kangaroo bond, due 15th July 2014.

Joint lead managers are ANZ, CBA and RBC Capital Markets.

One of the lead managers commented that "the deal will be priced in the near future in the context of the market."

Introducing our guest columnists
This week sees the introduction of Insto guest columnists, which will become a regular feature of both the newsletter and daily bond diary service.  It’s part of our effort to encourage direct market contribution to our coverage.

We’ve started off with two writers with whom many of our readers will be familiar. They’ve been providing credit markets commentary to clients for several years – Mark Bayley, whose contribution appears immediately below, and Craig Saalmann, at the end of this section.

The opinions expressed are theirs, not Insto’s, but we welcome reader reaction.

We’re looking to expand our list of guest columnists to include investors, treasurers and intermediaries.  If you’re interested or know someone we should approach, please contact either Jonathan Shapiro or Bernard Kellerman.