Europe

The Covered Bond Investor Council (CBIC) has responded to the European Commission’s (EC) proposed covered bond directive, requesting a more precise definition of eligible assets among a number of other recommendations.

Danske Bank has announced a mandate for a senior bond that will become non-preferred once Danish legislation comes into force. Nordea is also expecting to issue ahead of national law, but its debt would classify as non-preferred straight away.

Aviva said on Monday that it would offer goodwill payments to investors who lost money when trading its preference shares in March.

James Garvey, head of markets at Lloyds Bank, is retiring. His replacement has been named and will take up the reins over the summer.

Natixis has appointed François Riahi as its new CEO.

With May on the doorstep, investment grade corporate bond market participants will see maintaining already low issuance levels as a success in the coming weeks.

White goods maker Qingdao Haier has won approval from its shareholders to float D-shares on the Frankfurt-based China Europe International Exchange (Ceinex).

Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark and Hypo Oberösterreich are the only two issuers visibly planning covered bond deals, but with three major Spanish banks emerging from blackout on Friday, there is hope for more Spanish supply. In the meantime, secondary market flow has become more balanced with demand noted particularly at the long end.

Polyphor, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, began bookbuilding on Friday for its IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange, with a price range that values it at up to Sfr401m.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their funding programmes.

Hanover has become the first city to issue a green Schuldschein. The hope is that this transaction will be the first of many.

Energo Pro, a hydro power plant operator and electricity distributor in Bulgaria, Georgia and Turkey, opened books for its €250m bond issue at 4.5%-4.75% on Friday, higher than the low to mid-4% it originally indicated.