Europe

A pilot scheme to assess the risk of mortgages on energy-efficient buildings, compared with those on standard properties, was launched on Thursday by the European Mortgage Federation and European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC) under its Energy-Efficient Mortgage Initiative.

UK banks may have to reassess the make-up of their capital structures after the Bank of England said this week that it could slap a higher minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) on groups with regulatory debt sat outside the main resolution entity.

German chemicals producer BASF found overwhelming demand for its first sterling corporate bond of 2018 this week. The issuer’s £250m ($330m) offering was more than six times oversubscribed on Thursday, as sterling investors clamoured for a rare non-UK credit.

Huo Rongrong, the former global head of RMB and China business at HSBC, has left the bank for Investec Asset Management. The London-based banker will have a broader remit in her new buy-side role.

Arion Banki, the first Icelandic bank to list shares since the financial crisis, is set to price the sale at the top of its revised range.

A French agency hit the short end of the euro market on Wednesday in what is likely the final SSA euro benchmark ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday.

Several of the earliest Euro private placements (PPs) will mature in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first few quarters of 2019. But as the pricing for those notes looks very attractive to investors, the prospects of early refinancings are limited.

The return to health of the investment grade corporate bond market has been a carefully trodden path, one step at a time. On Wednesday, French electrical components manufacturer Schneider printed a successful nine year new issue, following corporate deals with eight and seven year tenors on the previous days of the week.

Macquarie Group has signed a £2bn loan that features green tranches, as the seemingly inexorable rise of the product continues unabated.

As Brexit uncertainty kicks in, the clearing arm of German derivatives bourse Eurex has rewarded ten market participants, including HSBC and Barclays, for actively clearing interest rate swaps.

Svenska Handelsbanken has published a green bond framework ahead of its first issuance in the format.

A €861m selldown of shares in Finnish oil refiner Neste Corp by the government of Finland on Tuesday night failed to clear, leaving the bookrunner holding a residual position.