Currencies

Santander Consumer Finance opened up a new Tokyo Pro-Bond programme worth €10bn on Tuesday, following a similar move from its UK sister borrower last year.

Belgian issuer KBC returned to the covered bond market for the first time since April last year with a six and a half year soft bullet Pandbrieven. The €1.25bn deal generated the largest book size seen in recent memory in what was described as a ‘phenomenal’ investor response.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary HypoVereinsbank (HVB) landed its biggest benchmark deal in almost five years on Tuesday, with a six year mortgage Pfandbrief.

Svenska Handelsbanken has chosen three banks to work on its first Kangaroo bond since 2014.

Dutch lender, ABN Amro returned to the Swiss franc market on Friday with a 8.9 year note, making it the third FIG issuer this week to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities in this market.

Two FIG issuers this week took advantage of good conditions to tap the Swiss franc market, revealing an opportunity for other banks to escape widened euro and dollar spreads.

Hong Kong’s MTR Corp has a reputation for recalibrating pricing in the region’s syndicated loan market and its latest HK$15bn ($1.9bn) dual-tranche facility is no different. The company has returned to the market after a gap of nearly 10 years, but its long absence is unlikely to pose a challenge, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Goldman Sachs printed its largest ever deal in Swiss francs on Wednesday, revealing an opportunity for other banks escaping widened euro and dollar spreads.

Latin American supranational Corporacion Andina de Fomento received a warm welcome from asset managers and bank treasuries on its second outing of the month in the Swiss franc market on Tuesday.

Amgen, the US multinational bio-pharmaceutical company, on Monday announced plans for its debut bond in Swiss francs, a transaction that bankers hope could turn a gloomy February market around.

Covered bond euro benchmarks issued by banks in the euro area do not fulfil the quantitative requirements of the liquidity coverage ratio, according to new research by Barclays analysts.

The refinancing auctions of Danish non-callable covered bonds for the April term began on Friday, where demand for three and five year non-callable bonds is expected to be strong, said analysts at Danske Bank.