Currencies

Switzerland's cantonal banks enjoyed an open window this week thanks to Pfandbriefzentrale's extended stint away from the market. Elsewhere, the Canton of Zurich was able to harness the lack of sub-sovereign supply to land at an aggressive level versus govvies.

The International Development Association is set to make one of its rare outings to the euro market on Tuesday, joining a 20 year from Ireland, which will be the third sovereign deal this week.

Demand for BPCE's latest Kangaroo note was skewed towards the preferred senior format this week, with non-preferred paper only making up A$125m ($96.0m) of the A$750m deal. The French firm was also joined in the market by Rabobank, which sold its first Aussie deal after an almost two year absence.

A pair of European sovereigns hit the market on Tuesday, raising a combined €12.5bn. Austria launched a four and 50 year dual tranche, but it was the short leg that raised eyebrows, demonstrating demand exists even below the ECB deposit rate.

BPCE and Rabobank are in the market for Aussie dollar senior paper, with bankers expecting a busy April as a slew of financial issuers refinance maturing bonds.

Turkish lender Akbank has managed to roll over a syndicated loan, which also marks its debut piece of ESG financing. However, pricing widened beyond expectations owing to heightened volatility in both domestic and international markets.

Rating: Baa3/BBB/BBB-

It is almost a month since the ECB promised to “significantly increase” the pace of its purchases under the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme. So far, the purchase data reveals little in the way of acceleration, but the head of the Italian treasury Davide Iacovoni says it’s on the way.

Lansforsakringar Bank (LF Bank) enjoyed the sole attention of the market on Thursday as it placed the day's only senior bond in euros. With market conditions constructive, bankers expect more esoteric names could follow.

KfW hit the market with an impressive green bond this week, raising a record €4bn of eight year paper and paying only 1bp of new issue concession to do so.

Hong Kong Broadband Network has returned to the loan market for a HK$5bn ($643m) deal for refinancing.

Italy and Portugal are the first two eurozone sovereigns out of the blocks for syndications following the Easter break, with the former looking to extend its curve by a further five years.