Europe

Kommuninvest is launching a pilot programme of sustainability loans. If there is enough demand, these will be funded through the institution's first social bond.

The UK Municipal Bonds Agency has enjoyed a successful sophomore effort in the bond market, printing £250m of 40 year paper for Lancashire County Council.

HSBC Holdings has finished the process of switching $3.5bn of short dated senior debt for a pair of new issues, as it looks to smarten up its liability structure for the total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) standards.

Crédit Agricole's Swiss subsidiary is selling its first structured covered bond in Swiss francs. The deal will be issued under a new programme using Swiss contractual law in a change from the French law covered bonds issued by the parent bank in the Swiss franc market. Elsewhere in the Swiss market, Münchener Hypothekenbank issued a green bond on Friday.

Danish banks say they could replace non-preferred senior debt with preferred senior bonds in the second half of 2020, after Denmark’s national supervisor relaxed minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

Bombardier has closed a $1bn three year loan facility with a number of direct lending funds. Over the past few months, direct lenders in Europe and the United States have started muscling into the debt profiles of larger corporates.

The European Union is to impose sanctions on leading Belarusian officials after condemning the country’s presidential election as rigged. But bond investors are not in panic mode.

Shares in Cellink, the Swedish maker of 3D printing equipment for the life sciences industry, rose more than 4% on Thursday morning after the company completed a Skr946m ($109.2m) growth capital raising, amid strong investor appetite for exposure to the healthcare sector due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Newly released data compiled by the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) underscores the robust growth of the covered bond market, with volumes rising to €2.7tr globally over 34 countries. Volumes will have exploded again this year due to the scale of retained issuance that’s been used for central bank funding.

Abundance Investment, the UK retail investment platform, is introducing a new way for local governments to crowdfund environmental projects. The councils of West Berkshire, Warrington and Leeds are set to be the first to make use of the scheme.

A surge in repo-eligible issuance and deteriorating credit outlook for the retail and hotel commercial mortgage segments that secure some cover pools has pummelled the Pfandbrief market. This has been compounded by a lack of transparency leading to "an uneasy feeling" and ‘some uncertainty’ said bankers.

Analysts at Société Générale say that bank credit spreads have plenty of room left to tighten in 2020, especially as supply volumes fall in the second half of the year.