Europe

Barclays saw its common equity tier one capital ratio fall 70bp amid balance sheet growth in the first quarter, but analysts suggest the bank should be able to maintain enough capital to carry on paying additional tier one coupons this year.

The Schuldschein market is expected to reopen in a matter of days, but arrangers will face a changed market and will have to adapt to the new corporate lending landscape created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Central Bank could take action to counter the rise in the level of Euribor at its meeting on Thursday by either cutting its deposit rate or buying commercial paper from financial institutions to ease interbank lending, according to analysts.

In contrast to what analysts had expected before its first quarter results, Deutsche Bank reckons its investment bank will outperform last year’s revenue figures in 2020. However, its fixed income and currencies sales and trading business did not match peers’ revenue growth in the first quarter.

Banco Santander wasted no time in heading to the non-preferred senior market this week, with investors responding well to the way in which European banks have been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in their first quarter results.

Hiscox, the London-listed insurance and reinsurance company, is exploring the idea of raising equity to combat uncertainty surrounding the impact of the coronavirus as premiums, particularly in the US, harden.

The ECB has, despite an early gaffe, decided that it is its job to close spreads after all — and for the most part, it is excelling in its task. But its attention is focused on the bond market and, as a result, those who rely on the money markets for short term funding are suffering.

Currency markets helped revenues in HSBC’s global banking and markets division in the first quarter. But along with the rest of the group, it had to take big losses for credit exposures thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Supermarket Income Reit, the UK real estate investment trust focused on grocery stores, has attracted strong demand for its latest capital raising to fund new investment opportunities that may arise from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The European Investment Bank achieved its biggest ever order book in euros on Tuesday, as it sold its first seven year benchmark of the year.

From Italian government bonds to fallen angels, nothing is junk unless the European Central Bank says so.

More UK councils are considering selling private placements, according to several sources familiar with the situation, as their funding needs escalate thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Institutional investors, some of which are sceptical of local authorities’ suitability for the US PP market, say they are more likely to consider lending to borrowers rich in assets.