Europe

Bank balance sheets are set to expand and Intesa's will be no exception. It will mean an an increased reliance on central bank funding. But apart from this, the Italian bank's mix of funding is likely to remain unchanged from February with the emphasis on regulatory capital. But as Alessandro Lolli, head of group treasury and finance told GlobalCapital, the bank has great flexibility in navigating its capital raising during the pandemic.

The gush of central bank repo-eligible supply in the covered bond market has reduced collateral protection by more than 50 percentage points, in some cases. And with a precipitous drop in the pace of mortgage production likely to follow, investors will be obliged to discriminate between issuers that commit to maintaining minimum levels of overcollateralisation (OC) and those that don’t.

Whitbread, the parent of Premier Inn and Beefeater Restaurants, has unveiled plans for a £1bn rights issue tp bolster its balance sheet following mass disruption in the hospitality industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced the closure of pubs and hotels in the UK.

A strong performance in the restricted tier one (RT1) instruments has put the niche insurance bond market in the spotlight recently. Some investors have made strong returns from the asset class, as valuations have recovered during the coronavirus crisis.

The European Central Bank said this week that policymakers should consider offering banks further relief on their leverage ratios during the coronavirus pandemic, building on legislative proposals put forward by the European Commission last month.

İşbank, Turkey's largest private bank by assets, is the latest financial institution from the country to refinance its existing debt, while managing to maintain competitive margins.

After a week of speculation over which central banks would provide Turkey with a currency swap line, its central bank has announced an increase to an existing arrangement.

Huhtamäki, the Finnish veteran of the Schuldschein market, is looking for a five year deal. Several bankers have said many other international issuers are coming as the market emerges from the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic, but they will find market norms have changed.

After the coronavirus crisis, new patterns of work and travel are expected to change the nature of financial hubs such as London. However, Michael Mainelli, one of the sheriffs of the City of London, says that the UK capital is well placed to remain an attractive location for business.

Rabobank said on Wednesday that it would take advantage of various EU schemes of funding and capital support, as it provided the market with an ad hoc update on its financial position during the coronavirus pandemic.

Investors poured into an accelerated trade in Swiss biopharmaceutical company Idorisia on Tuesday night, causing bookrunners to grow the deal by 1m shares. The success of the deal shows how highly investors value growth in the depressed economic environment of the Covid-19 pandemic.

LHV Pank has mandated leads for its inaugural deal and the second ever to be launched under the newly established Estonian covered bond legal framework.