In this interview, Angela Catlin, Edison’s director of investor relations and communications, sits down with Pippa Dale, former director at LSEG and a recognised expert in fixed income markets, to make the case for why debt investor relations matters and why companies don’t need to reinvent the wheel to do it well. From the relationship between treasury and IR teams to the fixed income research gap that leaves most bondholders underserved, the conversation covers what structured, ongoing bondholder engagement actually looks like in practice and why the companies that invest in it consistently achieve better pricing, deeper demand and stronger execution.
Can you tell us about your background in debt capital markets?
Pippa Dale: It’s really great to finally have this conversation not in a coffee shop – we go back a way. My name is Pippa Dale. I’ve spent the last few decades in financial services, coming up through the ranks in debt capital markets via the roadshow team, so marketing bonds is my core strength and knowledge. Most recently, I spent four and a half years with the London Stock Exchange, which was the pivotal part of the conversation I’m looking forward to having with you today. Otherwise, I’ve proudly worked for UBS, BNP Paribas and Citi – right across the street. Debt capital markets born and bred, I think.
Has the moment for retail access to corporate bonds in the UK finally arrived or is the market still on that journey?
Pippa Dale: Annoyingly, we’re still waiting for it to arrive. The access bond was delivered in January 2026, out of the London Stock Exchange. The team worked very hard with the FCA and a broader selection of stakeholders, doing huge outreach to make sure the access bond was something a retail investor would want to participate in. 2026 delivered us a very volatile bond market, so I’ll leave that conversation there and just say: it will happen. To put that into context, in the US, over 50% of similar bonds see around 51% direct retail participation. That level of engagement needs to come to the UK, and it will. Maybe not today, but it’s coming. We just need the markets to play alongside us.
What role should investor relations play within debt capital markets?
Pippa Dale: The problem IR needs to solve is that you’re not rewriting the rule book. All companies have IR teams, and if those teams aren’t debt-savvy or credit-savvy, there’s a wealth of information provided by Edison. I know I’m in Edison’s offices, so I’m aware I sound like I’m singing to the choir, but the reality is your offering is exceptional.
Revolut’s offering on its app is exceptional; it’s not debt-facing, but it could be. That will be driven by issuers wanting this new audience, and that’s where IR teams really have a part to play.
What are the main differences between retail and institutional bondholders, and what has surprised you most about retail investors?
Pippa Dale: The one thing I love about institutional versus retail is that institutional investors are also individuals; they’re retail investors too. If, in their day job, they’re accessing corporate bonds professionally, surely when they go home and behave as a retail investor, they want to do the same thing.
So yes, there is a difference when we look at the broader bond market, but when we’re looking at this niche access bond – a plain vanilla listed bond – it’s the same. It really is the same. Every retail investor and every institutional bond manager probably holds, or has held, a mortgage in their lifetime, and it’s the same principle: we want to participate in it not as a client, but as an investor.
What does good ongoing communication with a retail bondholder look like, and how does it differ from communicating with institutional investors?
Pippa Dale: There is going to be a lift, but when I say a lift, I don’t mean a massive one. You’re not going to need to hire an internal IR team just to look at your debt. You’re going to be adding just one person, either internally or externally, to support the treasury team so they can carry on doing what they’re doing. What that person will be doing is taking the messaging given to institutional investors and, as I said, simplifying the language and anticipating some more basic questions that you might not get from an institutional investor. Although trust me, we do get basic questions from institutional investors too.
Plus, this ongoing conversation is already in play to some extent. We just need to add an extra 10 minutes to a meeting to talk about when you’re next coming to market and think about opening up communication channels six months, or a year, earlier. Now would be a good day to start opening up those channels.
How significant is the research gap in debt capital markets compared with equities, and what should issuers be doing about it?
Pippa Dale: I think this gap will close once more issuers start issuing. The appetite for research will grow, and so will the appetite for people to deliver that research in the public domain. Edison is already doing it: your open-source research initiative, which I believe you’re launching, is excellent. And the amount of research you can get on the Revolut app is being replicated right across financial services.
Retail inclusion is coming, and it’s coming at pace. Bonds need to jump on that to broaden out the offering. I think we’ve over-worried issuers by telling them they need to be retail-friendly and retail-savvy themselves. There’s a whole wealth of professionals who can be your comms to connect – you don’t have to do it yourself, and you don’t need to speak to your client base directly. You need to give your IR team the message you want to deliver, and then you can sit back and go back to talking to your institutional investors.
Even well-covered issuers often find their research can’t reach retail shareholders, family offices or wealth managers, which is why open access matters. With that in mind, does open-source credit research need to be an entirely new offering, or can it build on existing equity research coverage?
Pippa Dale: It’s not an entirely new build, it’s like-for-like. Companies borrow money for particular reasons, and not every bond will fall under the access bond regime, but the FCA has its eyes firmly fixed on the retail investor. So, we’re not asking people to read every piece of credit research that’s published. What we want is to make sure the research is easy to find for the people who want it and to understand the level of engagement at the access bond level. That’s the real key to this discussion.
Where do you see the retail bond market in five years, and what do IR professionals, treasury teams, CFOs and CEOs need to do to keep up?
Pippa Dale: 2026 has been harsh on the bond market, so I would have liked to have seen more [UK top 100 index] and [UK 250 index] companies issuing the access bond under the access bond regime. As of yet, we have some, but not the ones that I personally would like to get my teeth into; not that I wouldn’t, but there’s an opportunity for new-to-market issuers too.
I anticipate, with a fair degree of confidence, that over the next five years, top-end [UK index] companies will look back at 2026, or certainly 2027, and say: ‘Why was I not issuing this before? The visibility I’m giving my client base, the visibility I’m giving the market, the pride I have in having this wealth of new investors on my books, who are driving down the cost of my own debt.’ I think they’ll look back on this era and think, ‘Why weren’t we doing that before?’
What is the single most important thing that an IRO, treasurer, CFO or CEO should take away from this conversation?
Pippa Dale: Certainly, from the treasury team’s perspective – and I would never call anybody out, just make sure you’re prepared. I nearly used the word ‘foolish’ there. Have a meeting with your internal IR team, and if they look a little wide-eyed, ask them to put you in touch with Edison or an independent, debt-focused IR professional. It’s going to be a maximum 20-minute meeting with your internal team, and 45 minutes with an external one, and you’ll be prepared. Then you just need to be able to answer: ‘Why am I doing this?’ If the answer is ‘When am I doing this?’, that’s fine. But if you can’t answer the question, ask yourself why not. That’s what I’d like. Make sure you can answer that question.
