Bank of America

The green bond market has enjoyed one of the most remarkable weeks in its short life, with a series of deals that bankers say could help change the future of the market — and that all were priced roughly close to their issuers’ conventional curve.

High grade borrowers were thin on the ground in the US market this week as volatility roiled equities and earnings blackouts loomed large.

Investors flocked to Quebec’s first dollar benchmark in nearly two years this week. Although the province had intended to issue $1bn, the scale of the demand enabled it to print its largest ever deal in the currency.

The evolution of the green bond market took another big step forward this week as two of Europe’s biggest borrowers launched dollar benchmarks in green format for the first time — and another European agency prepared a second green bond in euros.

Alexander Kiselevich, a managing director in corporate banking in Moscow, left Bank of America Merrill Lynch at the end of September.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) priced the third US dollar tier two bond from the country on October 7, coming in only slightly wider than peer Hana Bank.

Sentiment surrounding Korean bank capital transactions is high following Hana Bank’s sucessful Basel III tier two last week. Trying to ride that wave of optimism is Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), which opened books to its own tier two bond on October 7.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is looking to become the third Korean lender to tap the dollar market with a tier two bond, mandating four banks to handle the transaction.

Bank of America Merill Lynch has promoted Richard Yacenda as its new country executive for Hong Kong, replacing Jayanti Bajpai who left for London earlier in the year, according to a memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Four issuers launched covered bonds from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Austria this week. The transactions were all well subscribed and priced tightly but the greatest degree of price tension was seen in deals that are expected to be eligible for the European Central Bank’s purchase programme.

The lack of a securities lending market for green bonds could be stifling the ability of banks to make markets in the product, leaving the buyside struggling to pick up paper in secondaries, a leading investor told GlobalCapital this week. But on the primary side, green demand grows ever healthier, with another set of firsts from public sector borrowers on the way.

Bayer, the German pharmaceutical and chemical company, braved the toughest credit market conditions of 2014 this week to complete its biggest bond deal, as investors lost their appetite for risk.