Currencies

If the financial arm of A2/A rated insurance firm AMP had debuted in Swiss francs six months ago, the moment would have passed without much remark. But as the chief executive, chairman and half its board were turfed out of the business under a cloud of disgrace, the timing caused quite a stir in the traditionally measured bond market.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s London branch issued a $1.5bn-equivalent green bond on Tuesday, becoming the third big Chinese bank to hit the offshore debt market with floating rate notes in less than a week.

The Basque Government’s return to bond markets on Tuesday after a more than two year absence suggested that investors are not duly concerned about Spain being caught up in volatility last week, with orders ploughing into the debut sustainable bond issue.

Rentenbank on Tuesday sold what Dealogic data shows is its largest ever euro benchmark, while the State of North Rhine Westphalia visited the long end of the curve.

Carrefour, the French supermarkets group, sold Europe's second corporate bond deal of the week on Tuesday, as the market slowly recovered from the volatility of the previous week. There still remained some nervousness around market conditions, however, so Carrefour had to ensure it offered investors a healthy premium.

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Land NRW) hit screens on Monday to announce a long dated euro benchmark.

The Basque Government will bring the first real test of investor appetite for Spanish public sector risk since a wave of Italy-led volatility hit the eurozone periphery last week, as it opened proceedings on an inaugural sustainable bond — its first issue of any kind in over two years.

On Monday, Volkswagen reopened the euro corporate bond market after a blank week. The German car company’s financial arm was the only corporate issuer to brave the market on the day and, despite issuing a €1.5bn triple tranche deal, kept its longest maturity at six years.

Hong Kong Broadband Network has closed an amendment and extension of a HK$4.1bn ($528.5m) loan sealed two years ago, slicing the margin by 30bp.

Bank of China offered something exciting to the debt market on Thursday by selling green bonds as well as the first sustainability note from a Chinese issuer.

The recovery of Turkish asset prices this week is less the result of prudent monetary policy — though that certainly helped — and more a lesson in the benefits of the personal touch and that markets are, ultimately, populated by humans.

The Swiss franc bond market showed this week that it is well insulated from the turmoil affecting the euro market as South Korea’s Hyundai Capital raised Sfr300m from a tightly priced five year bond. With cross-currency basis swaps coming down, and low new issue premiums, Zurich-based bankers are keen to showcase the pricing competitiveness as well as the stability of their market.