Europe
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UniCredit returned to profit in the second quarter with a larger pool of excess capital to reward shareholders from next year, if the European Central Bank gives its permission. -
Solid financial results are encouraging Dutch insurance companies to resume dividend payments and share buyback programmes after getting the green light form the national regulator.
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Hammerson, the UK property company, launched a £550m rights issue on Thursday morning, becoming the latest firm to come to market with a large capital raise to offset the damage of a long Covid-19 pandemic.
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The Bank of England has said it may be necessary to make ‘temporary changes’ to capital buffers in the UK, owing to concerns that the existing framework could discourage banks from lending during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has announced that negative rates are “part of the toolbox” but that he sees no reason to make use of them yet.
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A glut of syndicated loans has been signed among European high grade borrowers that are for general corporate and refinancing purposes — a sign, said loans bankers, that the market is returning to business as usual for the rest of the year, marking what will at least be a change from the frantic emergency capital raising which began in spring.
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Danish covered bond auction season is underway with Nykredit and Nordea announcing sales. August’s auctions also provide the last opportunity to buy certain 30-year callable bonds, of which one is the largest covered bond ever issued.
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Equity capital markets are preparing for a busy autumn, with companies looking to raise cash to survive and thrive through the Covid-19 pandemic. But the window for raking in money may well be small, with a number of factors, of which a rising infection rate is only one, threatening turbulence for some time to come.
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Commerzbank expects its corporate division to remain under pressure from the coronavirus crisis in the second half of the year, after a second quarter where international firms rushed to take out debt products but the bank was stung by a large single provision, understood to relate to disgraced payments company, Wirecard.
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The State of Lower Saxony mandated banks on Wednesday to run a 10 year euro benchmark on Thursday, as German states remain the only action in the public sector primary market.
