Europe

Crédit Agricole announced a mandate for the first ever senior non-preferred bond on Thursday, in a move that confirmed French banks are very keen to start issuing in the format.

The City of London is "vanishing from the Union’s conversations", according to an MEP from the group of 12 who are scrutinising Brexit negotiations. That suggests preserving London as the financial centre of Europe will not be on the agenda for the EU side in the talks. UK ministers met City representatives this week, but what they offered was "of little use", according to sources at the meeting.

European corporate bond market participants met Thursday's unexpected European Central Bank monetary policy announcement with calm, but accepted the impact of Thursday’s decisions may be a slow burner.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that Greece needs real debt relief if it is ever to return to stability, nor that European leaders are afraid of providing it ahead of a busy election calendar for next year.

Banca Monte dei Paschi, and all involved in attempts to recapitalise it, are waiting for decisions from the European Central Bank, which will determine how its €5bn equity raising proceeds.

Equity-linked bond bankers are looking forward to a lively year for issuance in Emea in 2017, as they believe market conditions will favour the product and a wide variety of issuers will find it useful.

The Greek government’s plan to return to the bond market next year is unlikely to garner much interest from investors unless it pays an inflated price, despite a series of short term debt relief measures agreed this week, said public sector bankers.

BNP Paribas has hired Harsh Agarwal from Credit Suisse, adding the new arrival to its corporate DCM team.

Poland’s plans to issue the first ever sovereign green bond surprised supporters and sceptics alike this week. Climate finance experts are hopeful that the deal marks a major shift in Polish policy to a greener future after the government initially resisted ratifying the UN’s Paris Agreement, writes Virginia Furness.

Italy and the wider eurozone periphery this week rode out the latest vote against the political status quo of 2016, as government bonds performed well despite the resignation of Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi after losing a constitutional reform referendum over the weekend.

Options trading picked up this week as the Italian referendum and European Central Bank meeting drove markets. But with few obvious catalysts for upset left in 2016 after these events, the focus is turning to the financials sector as the year’s last bastion of volatility.

Greenyard, the Belgian fruit and vegetable producer, priced a €125m convertible bond on Thursday as part of a wider refinancing package to save it more than €15m a year of funding costs.