Banks

Guarantor: Kingdom of Belgium (51.41%), Republic of France (45.59%) and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (3.00%)

Rare issuer British Columbia returned to the MTN market this week with its first euro paper since January 2017, in two installments. MTN dealers reckon conditions are favourable for Canadian issuers.

Royal Bank of Canada has wrought havoc with the traditional pecking order for Canadian financial institutions in the credit markets, beating a better-rated peer for spread amid a string of recent senior issuance out of the country in euros. Market participants took the stunning developments this week as clear proof for a long-standing belief: green funding is simply cheaper. Tyler Davies reports.

Tesco issued a new £400m six year bond, to fund a tender for bonds from eight older issues, and saw blow-out demand of £3.3bn, as the UK supermarket heads back towards investment grade status.

After pushing out its yield curve to 30 years this week, Cyprus is keeping an eye open for issuing even longer maturities, according to an official at the country's Public Debt Management Office (PDMO).

Rating: A2/A/AA

The cost of funding in euros or sterling has swung back into favour for dollar-focused financial institutions in recent months, heralding the return of several North American banks to the market, including Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The European high yield market is experiencing a post-Easter resurrection, with six new issues announced after the London market returned to work on Tuesday. While some of these trades were the lower-rated acquisition bonds investors having been crying out for, the bond market is still largely stuck with deals too long, too tight, too risky or too large for first lien loans.

UBS investment bank’s profit before tax fell by more than half in the first quarter of 2018, with year-on-year declines in almost all divisions, the Swiss institution revealed on Thursday.

Dexia printed a £1bn trade on Thursday, showing that borrowers interested in sterling can still see success in the UK market if they can be nimble enough around headline risk.

Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) printed its debut dollar trade on Thursday, with the issuer expected to return to the market at least once a year.

Région Wallonne almost wiped out its total funding needs for the year with its first set of benchmark and sustainable bonds on Thursday.