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The article reports on the increase buy backs of government-guaranteed securities (GGS) by Australian banks as the fixed fee makes the debt increasingly expensive as it nears maturity. Five outstanding public GGS was proposed by the National Australia Bank (NAB) to buy back and it also plans to repurchase other outstanding GGS debt on a bilateral basis. Comments from Christian Joannidis of NAB are included. A statement from Patrick Winsbury of Moody's Investors Service is presented.

The author suggests that Commerce International Merchant Bankers Berhad (CIMB) should focus its efforts on the domestic corporate bond space, rather than bring Australian issuers to the Malaysian sukuk market. She reveals that the bank was criticized by Michael Forde, head of capital markets for Australia, stating that CIMB is keen to carry out an Islamic finance transaction as soon as possible. The author mentions that Coca-Cola Amatil and Telstra plan to issue currency denominated bonds.

The article reports on Nomura's claim that Australian banks may see a 14 percent increase in their bad debt expense unless macro conditions improve. According to Nomura banks analyst Victor German, if the difficult economic conditions persist throughout 2012 and onto next year, credit quality will deteriorate in the country. He reports that the number of incorporated companies in bankruptcy during the first quarter of 2012 was 17 percent higher than the first quarter of 2011.

The article reports that property developer Lend Lease Finance is set to be the first Australian corporation to tap the Singapore dollar market in 10 years when it launches a deal on July 24, 2012. Lend Lease is set to issue a five-year paper worth 275 million Singaporean dollars which will carry a coupon of 4.625 percent. The deal is expected to lure more Australian companies to look for funding in Singapore. The deal has garnered around 450 million Singaporean dollars worth of orders so far.

The article reports on the efforts exerted by the biggest banks in Australia to attract more institutional investors into the region's loan market. Most institutional investors find it hard to access the region's loan markets, mainly because of the buy-and-hold approach adopted by majority of banks. Australian banks' attempt to bring in more institutional investors is expected to take time to produce results, given the lack of secondary market liquidity and the existence of barriers to entry.

The article focuses on an investment research report from UBS about the Australian Office of Financial Management's (AOFM) borrowing programme for 2012-2013. According to the report, gross supply of Australian government bonds is likely to decline in 2012 and stay low until 2017. The reduced issuance is expected to promote further outperformance of Australian Commonwealth Government Bonds (ACGB) against the U.S. Treasury (UST) market.

The article reports that Australian dollar (AUD) corporate bond market is improving as bank lending slows and corporations seek to diversify funding sources. As of April 2012, approximately 2.8 billion Australian dollars of domestic corporate debt has been issued. However, compared to sovereign bonds, Australian corporate market remains illiquid in terms of international interest. The views of Ron Ross, head of capital markets in Australia at ANZ, on the AUD corporate bond market are cited.

The article reports on the increase in regional investor attitude toward Australian government bonds. Asian investors are said to be the most active buyers of Australian debt since 2008. The Australian Office of Financial Management reported that most of their Commonwealth Government Securities (CGS) are held offshore. Experts say that Asia will continue to be the biggest buyer of Australian government bonds.