UK Capital Issuance Rose as Repayments Outran New Issues

The Bank of England's September capital issuance figures contain a useful warning for anyone treating the volume of new securities as a measure of fresh finance. UK residents issued £76.5 billion of bonds, commercial paper and shares during the month, up from £57.2 billion in August. Yet they retired or bought back more securities than they issued on the Bank's measure: net issuance was negative £1.8 billion, after a positive £3.0 billion in August.

The arithmetic is straightforward. Net issuance is gross issues less repayments and share buybacks. On the Bank's September tables, September's £76.5 billion of gross issues was set against about £78.3 billion of repayments and buybacks. August's comparable figures were £57.2 billion and £54.2 billion. New issues rose by £19.3 billion, but the amount coming off the market rose by about £24.0 billion. That left a £4.8 billion deterioration in the net result. These are all-currency, non-seasonally-adjusted flows for UK-resident issuers, not a measure of all borrowing by British businesses.

The instruments moved in different directions. Net bond issuance swung from positive £6.4 billion in August to negative £0.3 billion in September. Commercial paper, which generally has a maturity of no more than a year, moved from positive £0.4 billion to positive £4.2 billion. Net equity issuance was negative £5.7 billion, compared with negative £3.8 billion a month earlier. Adding the three September figures gives approximately negative £1.8 billion, with the difference from the published total due to rounding. Bonds and commercial paper together were still positive on a net basis. Share buybacks were a substantial part of the overall negative print.

The company split is more revealing

For private non-financial corporations, the contrast is sharper. They issued £8.5 billion of securities in September, up from £7.7 billion in August, but their net issuance fell to negative £5.5 billion from negative £1.9 billion. The implied amount repaid or bought back rose from roughly £9.6 billion to £14.0 billion. Within the sector, net bonds moved from positive £0.5 billion to negative £2.7 billion, commercial paper was slightly negative in both months, and net shares were negative £2.5 billion in September. Taken together, the bond and paper figures show a roughly £2.9 billion net reduction in market debt issued by non-financial companies that month.

That matters to a borrower or investor more than the gross total alone: a busy issuance calendar can coexist with negative net market-debt issuance. But the tables do not identify why individual companies repaid debt, whether maturities were scheduled, or whether a firm used bank loans, cash or another source to replace it. The figures establish a sector-level flow, not a finding that otherwise viable companies were unable to raise funds.

The monetary financial institution, or MFI, figures point the other way. Banks and similar institutions recorded positive £6.1 billion of net issuance in September, close to August's £5.9 billion. Their net bond issuance fell from £5.2 billion to £0.5 billion, as their bond repayments rose by about £7.8 billion. At the same time, their gross commercial-paper issuance increased by £12.2 billion, to £33.5 billion, and their net paper issuance rose to £5.6 billion. That looks like a change in the sector's mix of securities, but the Bank's aggregate tables do not show that the same issuers replaced maturing bonds with short-term paper. Claiming a direct refinancing switch would require issuer-level evidence.

Other financial corporations had negative £2.4 billion of total net issuance. Their equity flow was negative £3.2 billion, while their bonds were positive £2.0 billion and their commercial paper negative £1.2 billion. The Bank says a £1.2 billion increase in buybacks by that sector drove the monthly decline in equity issuance. A buyback reduces the net equity measure, but it is not evidence that a company could not obtain new debt finance.

What one month can and cannot show

The longer view resists a simple squeeze narrative. September's £76.5 billion gross figure was close to the previous six-month average of £74.5 billion. Through September, total net issuance was £62.5 billion, £39.5 billion above the same point in 2025. Summing the Bank's monthly sector tables puts non-financial corporations' net issuance at about negative £16.2 billion for January to September. Their negative September result therefore extends a weaker sector pattern, but it sits alongside strong positive net issuance by financial institutions. The aggregate year-to-date gain is not proof that every type of borrower gained access to capital.

There are also limits to what these numbers cover. The Bank compiles the series from reports by issuing and paying agents and the London Stock Exchange; it covers securities issued by non-government residents and excludes government debt. Its methodology describes net issuance as issues less repayments and records share buybacks in the equity data. It does not measure bank lending, privately negotiated finance or a firm's financing cost. The monthly series is not seasonally adjusted and can be revised.

For now, the most defensible conclusion is narrow: September brought more gross securities issuance but negative net issuance, with non-financial companies reducing market debt on balance while MFI issuance stayed positive. A durable change would require repeated negative net debt issuance by non-financial companies, evidence on the maturity and buyback drivers, and corroboration from lending and financing-cost data. The Bank lists 26 November for its October capital issuance release. That next month will show whether September's split persisted or was largely a repayment-heavy interval.

Sources

• Bank of England, Capital Issuance, September 2026
• Bank of England, September 2026 tables A to F
• Bank of England, February 2026 capital issuance tables
• Bank of England, May 2026 capital issuance tables
• Bank of England, Capital Issuance, August 2026
• Bank of England, capital issuance definitions and methodology