Euro

The European Financial Stability Facility has sent requests for proposals for a trade next week, as a pair of rare issuers on Wednesday placed deals flat to or through fair value in a euro market buoyed by Emmanuel Macron’s election as French president last weekend. Longer dated trades — of which the EFSF has sold several this year — also look to be back on the table for borrowers.

Clare Francis, head of global corporates at Lloyds, is to leave the UK firm.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank will add a new item to SRI investors’ menu, after mandating banks on Wednesday to run a roadshow for a debut affordable housing bond.

Emmanuel Macron’s two-stage victory in the French presidential election rightly brought relief to the eurozone bond markets — as well as to all those who believe in the European project as a force for good. But talk of a Macron presidency opening the way for further European integration in the form of jointly issued eurozone bonds is far too early.

KfW has sold the largest ever new green bond issue from a supranational or European agency, printing flat to its curve with a green deal for the first time and drawing a remarkably high level of Asian investor interest for a euro trade. More SRI issuance is on the way, after Dutch agency FMO announced a sustainability bond roadshow.

The quarter-end and year-end problems in the repo market are scary enough, with collateral more important than ever before in financial markets. But what else is it concealing?

Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale has appointed a veteran of the French social security sector to succeed its long-serving chairman Patrice Ract Madoux, who is retiring.

Bpifrance Financement broke its size record on Tuesday, nipping back into capital markets ahead of several of its compatriots, according to a funding official at the issuer. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and NRW.Bank also made the most of the stable conditions, printing their own benchmarks.

KfW is set to bring its first green bond in euros in nearly a year, with the deal coming amid a flurry of conventional trades in the currency. KommuneKredit is also in the SRI pipeline, after running a roadshow to introduce its green bond framework.

Three public sector borrowers hit screens on Monday, mandating in a euro market buoyed by the defeat of National Front candidate Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French presidential election on Sunday.

An enormous pipeline of euro paper has built up over the past few weeks as borrowers and investors wait, hoping that the result of Sunday’s presidential election in France will signal a return to business.

The Greek government wants to return to the bond markets this year as soon as its latest round of bail-out negotiations ends — something that moved a step forward this week after the country agreed a deal with its creditors on a range of fiscal and structural reforms. But one look at where its outstanding debt is trading should make the government think twice before rushing back to the capital markets.