The FICC Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has released its final guidelines for the new issue process for fixed income bonds in Europe, including plans that could force banks to publish issue policies.
The proposed standard covers a range of areas of bond issuance including the granting of a mandate and the publication of deal statistics.
It urges lead banks make allocation policies and a summary of how they select investors for market soundings be made available to issuers and all market participants.
Other proposed changes include plans that issuers preferences be taken into account when deciding the allocation policy for a specific deal and investors should only submit orders which are a ‘true refection of their demand’.
Jonathan Brown, head of investment grade syndicate at Barclays, explained the proposed standard “builds on continuous work from FMSB member firms and other industry bodies to ensure that as the fixed income new issue market evolves it remains fit for purpose.”
He added the standard goes beyond recent regulation and will lead to a “more open and transparent process.”
The FMSB explained it expects other primary market participants will adopt the standard and future proposed standards will focus on hedging and conduct issues with the use of trading technology.