Briefs: Less corporate credit on offer, Westpac's hybrid prices low, managed account bond portfolio 06 August 2015 4:15PM Banking Day staff Briefs, Two years ago 90 per cent of Australian companies offered credit terms to their customers but this figure has now fallen to 82 per cent according to a recent Survey of Corporate Payment Trends in Asia Pacific by credit insurance firm Coface. The survey also found a 13 percentage point drop in the number of companies experiencing overdue payments from their customers, down to 74 per cent of those surveyed. Westpac has completed the bookbuild for its hybrid capital issue, Capital Notes 3, increasing the size of the offer from A$750 million at launch last week to $1.25 billion. The margin was set at 400 basis points over the 90-day bank bill rate - at the low end of the indicative range. There was plenty of speculation about the margin Westpac would offer to attract investors, given that a number of hybrid securities are currently trading below their issue prices. Westpac Capital Notes 3 will qualify as additional tier one capital. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has tightened its lending to apartment developers because new capital requirements, and particularly the restrictions on lending to investors, increase the settlement risk at the end of the project, the AFR reports. Australian fixed income broker FIIG Securities has launched a managed accounts service for bonds, facilitating direct bond ownership for private investors, self-funded retirees, financial planners and not-for-profit clients such as charities. FIIG claimed its Managed Income Portfolio Service would allow investors "to retain control of their fixed income portfolio's investment strategy while delegating its day-to-day management" to an experienced professional. FIIG has hired Alwyn Hung, former head of fixed income at Dixon Advisory Funds Management, as its senior portfolio manager of cash and fixed income for MIPS. HSBC Australia has appointed Rohit Garg as its new head of global trade and receivables finance in Sydney, filling a spot left vacant when Andrew Skinner relocated in Q1 to take up a similar role for HSBC Canada. In his most recent role, Garg was regional COO, Asia, for global trade and receivables finance, based in Hong Kong. He will report locally to James Hogan, head of commercial banking for HSBC in Australia and regionally to Siew Meng Tan, HSBC's regional head of global trade and receivables finance for Asia Pacific.