Europe

The European Central Bank threw the kitchen sink at the bond market this week with its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP). Borrowers are assessing their funding programmes, which will rise in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. But they are in no hurry to sell new issues, with investor appetite minimal in the secondary market.

“There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.” So said Vladimir Lenin, although the founder of Soviet Russia probably didn’t write this with the capital markets in mind.

Wild swings in the euro/dollar basis swap, and an unreliable interest rate swap complicated bond execution in the SSA market this week. While some liquidity has returned in rates, cross currency swaps are still behaving very strangely.

International banks are at risk of depleting their capital reserves as they try to keep credit flowing to companies through the coronavirus crisis. Governments and regulators have already responded, but the sector is screaming out for more work to be done to ease the burden of complying with stringent accounting and supervisory rules, reports Tyler Davies.

The biggest investment banks are enjoying strong trading revenues from the market moves related to the coronavirus pandemic, alleviating a freeze in M&A and underwriting activity. The banks appear well-placed to deal with corporate drawdowns, although there is some debate around wider liquidity profiles.

Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal and Toronto Dominion Bank all issued euro covered bonds in good size this week, finding big savings over senior unsecured issuance. One leading investor said bringing these deals in a fragile market was opportunistic and reflected The Bank of Canada's more restrictive provision of emergency liquidity than in Europe.

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Firms across Europe are clamouring for crisis funding but while debt advisory bankers have joined the frontline in finding solutions some admit they may struggle to cope with the sheer scale of the challenge, writes David Rothnie.

After an extraordinary Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursday, the Bank of England voted to drop the base rate by an additional 15bp to bring it to a new low of 0.1%. Alongside this cut, the central bank has announced it will up its holdings of government and corporate debt by £200bn. Initial signs in the bond makrets were positive.

The State of North Rhine Westphalia (Land NRW) had to pay a large new issue premium on Thursday as it brought the first SSA deal of a volatile week.

Bankers in Paris are adjusting to a new life of lockdown following president Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of war against Covid-19 on Monday, which has led to the toughest restrictions being imposed on daily life in France since the Second World War.

AXA Bank successfully issued the first covered bond eligible for the European Central Bank’s newly established €750m Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) on Thursday. But, despite the ECB’s much increased firepower, the bonds still offered a pick up of around 30bp and the funding would barely been possible without the central bank's support.