Currencies

State of North Rhine-Westphalia’s third and biggest century bond built an impressive order book in terms of size and number of accounts from a diverse range of investors this week, proving this niche part of the curve is increasingly popular with buyers.

Raiffeisen Schweiz kicked off its 2021 funding year with an opportunistic Swiss franc dual tranche bail-in bond on Wednesday, landing about 10bp tighter than where it debuted last October.

The Republic of Indonesia kicked off its 2021 bond issuance this week with a $3bn deal in dollars, split across 10 year, 30 year and 50 year notes, as well as a €1bn tranche.

Chinese toll road operator Zhejiang Expressway kick-started Asia's equity-linked market this week, dipping into euros for the year’s first convertible bond. It plans to use all the proceeds to repay debt.

World Bank sold a Canadian dollar benchmark on Tuesday, raising C$1.5bn ($1.2bn) with a January 2026 line.

Public sector borrowers soaked up huge demand in the euro market on Tuesday including the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which printed its biggest ever 100 year bond despite offering a yield of less than 1%.

The European Investment Bank made a blazing start on Monday in tackling its 2021 borrowing programme, hitting the Australian dollar and sterling markets on Monday, and lining up a dollar deal for Tuesday.

Foreign central bank action sparked arbitrage opportunities in Swiss francs to shrink in 2020, so investors took a more domestic approach. As foreign issuance dries up, so too do Swissie mandates for international desks. Frank Jackman reports.

The Swiss National Bank said it is “willing” to increase the scope of its foreign exchange interventions to keep the Swiss franc’s value down, despite the US Treasury labelling it a ‘currency manipulator’ this week.

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Bank of America will become a primary dealer for the Netherlands' government bond market next year, but ING has quit, as part of its strategy of scaling back its dealerships to relieve pressure on its financial markets business.

Flughafen Zürich sold its first deal this week since it lost its double-A rating in July, finding the opportunity to price a Sfr200m bond at an “aggressive” level.