(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp.’s Bernard Mensah said he’s seeing signs of capital markets revival with some big-ticket share offerings, but elections are adding an element of caution among investors.
Activity is “absolutely more than last year,” he told Bloomberg Television’s Tom Mackenzie in an interview on Thursday. The question is whether it will “continue through in Q3 and Q4,” he said, adding “there are big election cycles, sometimes people are a little bit cautious ahead of that.”
Mensah, who’s the president of international operations at America’s second-largest bank, said the lender is continuing its drive into Scandinavia, Germany and Italy. The executive said clients are bullish on the US economy.
On the UK, which saw the Labour Party sweep into power after 14 years in recent elections, Mensah encouraged officials to continue the engagement they’ve had with businesses.
London is such an “incredible global convening place” for capital and knowledge, so “rich with ideas,” that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves doesn’t have to travel elsewhere to get a sense of what investors are thinking about, he said.
UK regulators have just overhauled their rules for companies looking to make their public debut in London, a move seen as part of a concerted effort to draw more initial public offerings to the City.
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