Europe

The coronavirus crisis has reshaped urban living and working. It will also change the way financial firms operate over the longer term.

Two more eurozone sovereigns are set for syndications on Wednesday, with France eyeing up 20 years and Iceland coming for a six year bond.

The EU should further loosen bank leverage ratio requirements if it wants to avoid a credit crunch amid Covid-19, according to Michael Lever, head of prudential regulation at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

UK food and ingredients company Tate & Lyle has sold a $200m US private placement, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Several agents have said that requests for proposals are now rolling in after a quieter few months.

Chinese companies are likely to consider London as an alternative foreign listing venue, according to sources speaking to GlobalCapital, following a regulatory crackdown in New York and increased political tensions between the US and China.

Deutsche Bank has become the latest big bank to announce a new sustainable finance target, with an eye-catching commitment to €200bn of financing between now and 2025 — but its policy highlights the difficulty for investors of comparing banks and deciding which are greener.

Spain’s economy ministry has announced an update to the sovereign’s 2020 funding programme, which will see it borrow much more than initially announced as it tackles the pandemic.

A pair of French banks visited the five year point of the Kangaroo curve on Tuesday. BPCE raised A$650m of senior preferred paper, while BNP Paribas mandated for a senior non-preferred deal.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of May.

Covered bond investors wasted little time in placing big orders on Tuesday for the largest ever green deal issued in Swedish kronor — a five year floating rate transaction secured on energy efficient mortgages from Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol). At the same time, Credit Mutuel Arkéa issued a long 10 year with blow-out demand, reflecting a material concern that covered bond supply, net of central bank purchases and redemptions, will be deeply negative this year.

The New Development Bank is looking to take advantage of the strong demand in dollars by bringing its long-awaited inaugural trade in the currency as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Republic of Estonia has mandated for a 10 year benchmark bond, as it prepares for its first foray into bond markets since 2002.