Euro

The SRI bond pipeline for public sector borrowers looks fit to burst, with a string of issuers planning deals and KfW setting a marker with a thumping trade this week.

There was strong praise this week from senior SSA bankers for Patrice Ract Madoux, the long-serving chairman of Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, who is retiring from the position.

Public sector borrowers in the euro market on Thursday focused their attentions on the long end of the curve, but not every trade made it to full subscription.

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.