Currencies

The World Bank is planning to add fully digital cash settlement, multiple currencies and more nodes to its ‘bond–i’ platform, according to a banker involved in developing the blockchain system. Earlier this month, the supranational added tap functionality, as it raised A$50m ($33.7m) of capital.

A pair of European agencies placed taps at the long end of the Kangaroo curve this week, printing at the nine and 12 year points. Yields on these notes have fallen compared to previous taps, as the Kangaroo market feels the effects of a global bond rally.

Credit Suisse this week made “an important step in the transition away from Libor”, the bank claimed, as it placed an AT1 that it said was the first public issue in the Swiss franc market to use an alternative benchmark rate.

A trio of European agencies and a supranational all priced taps at the long end of the Kangaroo curve last week, with tenures ranging from nine to 12 years. Yields on these notes have fallen compared to previous taps, as the Kangaroo market feels the effects of the global bond rally.

Market participants expect more banks will now want to print Kangaroos after investors on a search for yield poured into UBS's additional tier one (AT1) deal on Tuesday. The syndication, which surprised those involved after it managed to shave 75bp off its initial pricing guidance and attract A$4bn ($2.71bn) of orders, suggested a market ripe for a deal spree.

Korea Development Bank moved to place the largest Korean Kangaroo earlier this week, a note that was also priced more tightly than any other Korean-issued Aussie dollar deal.

Auckland Council appointed banks on Monday to arrange a roadshow for a euro benchmark with an intermediate to long maturity, in what will be its first bond in the currency since 2017

Mexican lender Banco Mercantil del Norte (Banorte) is looking to sell its third Swiss franc bond, breaking a two-week hiatus in cross-border issuance from Latin American borrowers.

The Asian Development Bank returned to the Kiwi dollar market to print its largest Kauri deal since January 2018 this week. With the Inter-American Development Bank and International Finance Corporation set to follow with a pair of taps in the coming days, bankers are expecting a busy few weeks in the market as investors react to the recent surprise interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) has thrown open a €2.2bn-equivalent loan to support its acquisition of a minority stake in German automaker Daimler.

The Republic of the Philippines took advantage of Japanese investors’ hunger for yield with a tightly priced four-tranche ¥92bn ($863.4m) Samurai bond.

The World Bank is preparing to reopen its 'blockchain offered new debt instrument', or bond-i for short, as it looks to market the Australian dollar deal to a more international audience.