Europe

Citigroup has beefed up its presence in France by hiring Robin Rousseau, Deutsche Bank’s head of M&A for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

This week in Keeping Tabs: the prospect of financial repression in the UK, an easier passage for emerging market central banks, and Alphabet partnering up with Swiss Re.

Rentenbank plans to issue its first green bond in the middle of September, after two weeks of meetings and calls with investors. Treasurer Stefan Goebel said he was not too concerned by the impending wave of supply from the European Commission.

Top tier UK universities are likely to issue public and private debt in the fourth quarter of this year, to fill a funding gap from collapsing summer revenues and dwindling numbers of international students. With operating conditions for the sector decidedly bleaker, many expect a clutch of lower ranked UK universities to go bust in the next few years.

Standard and Poor’s is due to review the ratings of several German Laender over the next few weeks, and downgrades could undermine Pfandbrief valuations. But some market participants believe that scarcity of issuance in the asset class could in fact make spreads tighten further.

Following a series of investor calls, Sweden has announced the tenor of its debut green bond, which is expected to be issued early next week through syndication.

The offices of London’s top banks are unlikely to fill up in the coming weeks, as firms are adopting a gradualistic approach to returning staff to their pre-pandemic workplaces.

Klaus Löber has been selected by the European Securities and Markets Authority as chair of its CCP supervisory committee. ESMA has also picked two other members; all three will be assessed by the European Parliament.

The European Commission's vast borrowing programme is looming over the public sector bond market as it returns from its shorter than usual summer break. Although deals this week have been successfully executed, the first signs of strain could be starting to show as government bond yields rise.

International Finance Corp sold the first Kauri bond in more than two months on Thursday, while in the Kangaroo market a pair of European agencies tapped a pocket of demand further down the curve.

Crédit Agricole’s Swiss subsidiary sold its first structured covered bond in Swiss francs on Wednesday. The bond was issued under a new programme that differentiates it from covered bonds issued by its parent bank under French law in the Swiss market.

Supply and demand for senior financial institution bonds was lukewarm this week, as issuers and investors favoured higher yielding products amid healthy market conditions. FIG deal arrangers are predicting that the trend is set to continue and that issuers will favour capital trades.