Reining in private credit, AI capex looms over bonds and defence label flaps wings

Send us Fan Mail◆ Private credit, banks or securitization — which one is regulated too lightly? ◆ How AI capex will affect Europe's bond market ◆ What do defence bonds achieve?Two senior UK bankers were in the House of Lords this week pleading for lighter regulation in the face of competition from private credit and their US rivals. One, Michael Roberts, the CEO of HSBC Bank plc and its CEO of corporate and institutional banking, even implied that securitization may be too lightly regulated as part of his argument. We discuss what he meant by that and debate whether private credit is a systemic risk that should face tougher standardsBpifrance issued the first bond to carry the European Defence Bond label in the public sector bond market this week. The new label is finding its feet, so we question what it achieves, what it is missing and how it might catch on.Finally, we gasped at the staggering amount of capex that big US tech firms want to do to fund AI spending. Some of it will be done in the European bond market through Reverse Yankee issuance. Market participants worry that this is bad news for European issuers. We examine why and whether they are right to fret.