Old Lady takes $2bn from investors

The Bank of England — the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street — paid its annual visit to the new issue market on Monday to load up on dollars in what is typically one of the slam dunk deals of the SSA calendar. Initial signs of interest in the trade confirmed what many bankers suspected — that Moody’s downgrade of the UK and the Bank from Aaa to Aa1 would have little to no effect on demand for those issuers’ bonds.