Erste Group Bank

Technology platforms are vying to become the first to close a fully digital Schuldschein offering — without a paper parallel — under German law. But some see the obstacle to progress not behind the beady eyes of the regulator, or the possibilities of technology, but with market participants’ customs.

French demand outweighed interest from UK accounts in an additional tier one deal for the first time this week when Erste Bank sold a €500m bond that it had first planned nearly a year ago.

Banks with large exposures in Romania took a beating in the financial markets on Wednesday, after the country’s government unveiled plans to introduce a new tax on banking assets.

A revolution is occurring in the Schuldschein market. This sedate and sober instrument has shaken its fusty reputation and transformed into a bustling hotbed of technological progress. Seven digital platforms sprang up in 2018, each declaring a grand ambition to drive efficiency. But with platforms jockeying for position, under the eye of the German regulator, some question the rate of change and the authenticity of some agents of it.

Austrian oil and gas company OMV sold its first senior corporate bonds of 2018 on Monday after it attracted €3.9bn of demand for a pair of €500m notes with five year and 10 year tenors.

Borealis, the Austrian petrochemicals maker, sold its largest corporate bond tranche on Wednesday. The deal came two days after Austrian oil and gas company OMV, which owns more than a third of Borealis, had issued its own dual tranche deal.

CEZ, a Czech utility company, came to market for four year euros on Tuesday, returning to the currency for its largest deal since 2013.

Bafin, the German financial regulator, is seriously considering reclassifying Schuldscheine from loans to securities as the market pushes towards digitisation, according to a senior German debt banker. Such a move would have far-reaching consequences on demand for the product, which has allowed the market to blossom over the past two years, writes Silas Brown.

Erste Group has arranged a Schuldschein via blockchain, through a platform it helped construct alongside Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric.

Romania was able to cut the spreads on both tranches of its euro benchmark on Thursday.

Romania hit screens on Thursday morning for its second dual tranche euro benchmark of the year.

Republic of Hungary