Europe

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress of Europe's supranationals and agencies in mid-November. Joining the scorecard this week is the European Union, which launched its Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) programme in October.

Regulatory debt ratios are declining at some euro area financial institutions as a result of their participation in the European Central Bank’s targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) this year.

An improvement in risk appetite led to a rates sell-off and a spike higher in yields this week, paving the way for an explosion of covered bond supply that went far beyond the volume expected.

Will Sir Robert Stheeman become the Green Knight?

The UK’s announcement that it would begin issuing green Gilts next year is raising hopes that it will inspire more green bond issuance from UK borrowers. But market participants are eager to see how the UK handles setting up a green debt programme and its own green taxonomy. Lewis McLellan and Jon Hay report.

Commerzbank has endured a tough year but, with a new strategy on the way, loan impairments lower than at many peers, and executives seeing an uptick in its trade finance business, the worst may be behind it.

Turkey could be on track for one of the most remarkable emerging market recoveries of the year, after a shake-up of top officials signalled a return to orthodox monetary policy, inspiring confidence among investors. With the lira starting to recover from record lows, bond market insiders anticipate a new issue before the end of the year. Mariam Meskin reports.

Rating: Aaa/AA/AAA

Financial institutions jumped into action this week, as positive news on the development of a Covid-19 vaccine led to superlative funding conditions in the euro market.

NatWest Group and Société Générale reopened the additional tier one (AT1) market to some fanfare this week, as investors showed they were hungry for yield by snapping up the deals.

Allianz drew attention to an overlooked corner of the insurance bond market this week, when it became the first household name to sell a restricted tier one (RT1) deal. The arrangers think the roaring success of the transaction will help the asset class to attract a much more mainstream following.

Jefferies has enjoyed a record year in European investment banking, powered by equity capital markets, writes David Rothnie.