Are we heading for New York on Thames?

It was back to normal for this week’s episode of Another Fine Mezz as Tom Lemmon welcomed back reporters Victoria Thiele and George Smith.

With market activity drifting towards hibernation, that normally means it’s time for regulators to take centre stage. And so, the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) did, with its consultation paper on securitization and how it relates to the capital markets.

The paper hints at the UK attempting to align more closely with the US. However, as a lawyer told GlobalCapital, the UK must tread carefully between Basel 3.1 standards and UK competitiveness.

Meanwhile, in European CLOs there has been a late flurry of activity including a deal by Partners Group. Although, the credit curve appears to be steepening as triple-A investors are happy to play but mezz buyers seem ready for the holidays.

And finally, only one member of the Another Fine Mezz trio made George’s daughter cry in the office this week. No prizes for guessing who that was.