Europe

De Volksbank was three times subscribed for its debut green bond this week, despite not offering much in the way of yield or new issue premium to its investors.

Groupama seized an opportunity to replace one of its outstanding tier twos with a cheaper set of capital instruments on Monday, drawing on sizeable demand for higher yielding assets in the euro market.

The head of capital markets at Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial has left to join the region of Madrid as chief financial officer.

Two new corporate bond issues hit the market on Friday, wrapping up the busiest week of the year, in which nearly €22bn of new notes have been printed. Despite the frantic activity, investors have been willing to lend, though companies may have had to pay larger new issue premiums.

A new sustainable finance product, which has the potential for huge growth, was launched on Thursday when Enel, the Italian electricity and gas company, issued the first bond in which the interest rate can be altered during the term of the debt, based on the borrower’s sustainability performance.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their funding programmes as we enter September.

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, the Belgian investment company, has launched a €750m bond exchangeable into shares in LafargeHolcim, the Swiss building materials company.

Arié Boleslawski has joined Natixis to run its equities business.

The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), made its Uzbekistani som debut this week to take advantage of funds flowing into EM currencies thanks to low rates in dollars. Elsewhere, euro investors are looking at the ultra-long end of the SSA market.

UBS is revamping its investment bank to put the unit on a more global footing and boost collaboration across divisions, in a move that finally draws a line under the Andrea Orcel era.

Bank of Ireland was unable to complete the sale of a tier two transaction this week, after the UK Parliament descended in chaos. Bond buyers have by and large taken a pragmatic approach during Brexit negotiations, but market participants said that on this occasion the Irish issuer had “misjudged” how nervous investors were, writes David Freitas.

Christine Lagarde has given a strong hint she will persist with the European Central Bank’s highly accommodative monetary policy if she takes over as its president in November. Lagarde also suggested the ECB would move to make its portfolio more green.