Taint of ‘bait and switch’ in the loan market helps no one

Europe’s loan market is still capable of funding big deals — but these transactions are not easy, and lending appetite is still constrained. Bankers are angry, therefore, at a new form of ill-discipline they believe has crept in to this normally civilised market. This is the ‘bait and switch’, in which banks offer borrowers a low rate to win the mandate, only to put it up before launch.