Europe
-
Monte dei Paschi di Siena may be the ugly sister of Italian banks for investors, but it’s the Italian sovereign’s favourite son when it comes to primary dealerships. -
An audit of bail-outs during the sovereign debt crisis has pointed to inconsistencies in the European Union’s handling of different states, while claiming that a bail-in of Irish banks’ senior bondholders could have been contained.
-
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) funded itself more cheaply with a 15 year covered bond than it did with a five year this week. It followed Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) which issued at the same spread as earlier deals despite a market widening.
-
-
-
Last year the Markit iBoxx Euro Banks index was one of the outperforming bond sectors in Europe having returned 1%. The index, which is largely made up of bonds issued by European banks, even managed to outperform defensive sectors such as healthcare and utilities, while Europe’s regulatory oversight and relaxed monetary conditions kept market confidence in check.
-
The retail sale of Lloyds Bank shares will be delayed, rather than held this spring as planned, UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said today.
-
Catalonia’s new pro-independence government wants to negotiate with Madrid on the basis that it will take on 11% of the Spanish national debt, GlobalCapital can reveal. That would raise Spain’s debt-to-GDP ratio at a stroke from 99% to 111%, write Victor Jimenez and Craig McGlashan.
-
Swiss franc investors made the most of a rare opportunity to buy Austrian sub-sovereign paper on Thursday when Land Niederoesterreich (Lower Austria) tapped its April 2021 and September 2023 bonds.
