Sector developments and company hires

Prudential flexibility reiterated
The European Commission has adopted a package to help facilitate bank lending to households and businesses throughout the European Union that includes an Interpretative Communication on the EU's accounting and prudential frameworks, as well as targeted ‘quick fix’ amendments to the CRR, in order to maximise the ability of banks to lend and absorb losses related to the Coronavirus fallout. Specifically, the Commission proposes to adapt the timeline of the application of international accounting standards on banks' capital, by treating more favourably public guarantees granted during this crisis, by postponing the date of application of the leverage ratio buffer and by modifying the way of excluding certain exposures from the calculation of the leverage ratio. The Communication confirms the recent statements on using flexibility within accounting and prudential rules, such as those made by the Basel Committee, the EBA and the ECB.

In other news…

APAC
CDIB Capital has established a structured credit group with three senior appointments to deliver on its private debt growth strategy across Asia. Tor Trivers will lead the new unit, which includes two of his former investment colleagues - June Yub Chen and Kyu Jung Sim - from the Carlyle Group, where they successfully managed the Carlyle Asia Structured Credit Fund. Chen and Sim join CDIB Capital as svps, having been vps at Carlyle. The former previously worked in the structured finance department at KDB Daewoo Securities, while the latter worked at Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Bank. Prior to heading the Asia Structured Credit Fund at Carlyle, Trivers served in executive positions at Natixis and Nomura in New York. 

Equity investment
Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings has received US$100m of new equity investment into the group by way of a US$80m subscription by Brickell Insurance Holdings (an investment vehicle controlled by 777 Partners) - for a new series of preferred stock issued by Randall & Quilter PS Holdings, which are exchangeable for ordinary shares in the company at a price of £1.35 per share – and a US$20m subscription by funds managed by Hudson Structured Capital Management for 11,902,318 new ordinary shares at a price of £1.35 per share. Aggregate proceeds from these investment total approximately £80.3m and will be utilised primarily to invest in the growth of R&Q’s programme management and legacy businesses.

North America
CRE Finance Council has appointed Sairah Burki as md, regulatory policy, focusing on current and future regulatory issues with a significant impact on the commercial and multifamily real estate finance industry. Burki was previously md and head of policy at the Structured Finance Association (SFA) and before that was a director on Capital One’s securitisation team.