Winterflood has been featured in the The Treasurer Magazine article: 'Retail revolution for bond issuances a step closer'. The article discusses the FCA’s plan to make bond issuances more widely accessible which will enable retail investors to take part in the offering.
Michael Smith, Debt Capital Markets at Winterflood said: “The problem is that your typical investor can’t access the primary or the secondary bond markets at all and in any event, who’s got £100,000 to buy one bond? Whilst wealth managers can access bonds, many don’t because the £100,000 per bond denomination doesn’t make sense. What they want is £100 or £1,000 denominations – like they used to be – so that their clients can diversify”.
He also added that “Conservatively, our assessment is that wealth managers alone can speak for around £200m in a single bond issuance. If you look at the most successful ORB (London Stock Exchange’s retail order book) retail-only bonds from blue chips around 10 years ago, the range was between £200-£300m. We’ve not included the demand from the execution-only platforms and their impact on secondary pricing”.
If you would like to discuss the article or topic in more detail, please contact: Michael Smith, CFA, Debt Capital Markets at Winterflood Securities
