Caffil deal offers hope of revived public sector coronavirus funding source

A €1bn five year covered bond issued on Tuesday by Caffil, that was designed to provide funding for French hospitals in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has demonstrated that the market for public sector covered bonds, which has been in decline for more than a decade, could now be reinvigorated. Higher local authority spending could well find its way into the cover pools of French and German covered bond issuers, the head of treasury and financial markets at SFIL, Caffil's parent organisation, said on Wednesday.