Currencies

The World Bank broke a 30 year silence in special drawing rights (SDR) bonds with the sale of a SDR500m ($700m) three year note in China on Wednesday. While the Mulan bond is widely seen as a symbolic gesture to promote the internationalisation of the renminbi, market participants said it is more than that, in spite of the relatively narrow investor base. Paolo Danese and Rev Hui report.

The European Financial Stability Facility has sent out a request for proposals for a bond issue next week, as Finland highlighted how much demand issuers can muster in the euro market — even at yields well below 0%.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank tapped a A$355m ($266.6m) 3.15% September 2026 Kangaroo bond on Wednesday for A$55m.

Slovenia became the first central and eastern European name to tap the core currency markets after the summer lull on Wednesday with a reopening of its €1bn March 2035s.

The World Bank broke a 30 year silence in special drawing rights (SDR) bonds with the sale of the SDR500m ($700m) three year note in China on Wednesday. While the Mulan bond is widely seen as a symbolic gesture to promote the internationalisation of the renminbi, market participants said it is more than just that in spite of the relatively narrow investor base.

China has pushed hard for a greater role for the IMF special drawing rights (SDR) since the global financial crisis. But while the SDR may help the renminbi internationalisation strategy it will not help overthrow the dollar as the de facto world currency, according to Benjamin Cohen, professor of international political economy at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Coca-Cola came for euros on Tuesday with a 20 year bond that was priced aggressively, as a slug of borrowers took aim at the market.

Finland is bringing a seven year euro benchmark that is almost certain to be priced with a negative yield — but that should do little to quell demand, said bankers on and off the deal.

The World Bank has announced the price guidance for its upcoming Mulan bond.

Incompatible accounting standards could soon be a thing of the past for foreign issuers looking to tap into China’s onshore bond market with the World Bank’s upcoming SDR trade providing a template on how to get around this long standing issue.

A pair of eurozone periphery sovereigns have deals in the pipeline — but could face problems bringing the trades, bankers warned this week.

Amid much turmoil over whether Portugal will lose the one investment grade rating that is keeping it on the European Central Bank’s shopping list, no one is asking a vital question.