Finland

Finnish financial services group Sampo has offloaded €1.37bn of shares in Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordic region, as part of its planned exit from the group.

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Large European banks shifted their funding focus to the dollar market this week, printing stunning deals as the euro market showed it was more sensitive to signs of tighter monetary policy. Tyler Davies reports.

Two SSA issuers were expected to follow Tuesday’s outing in euros from the EU, but only one elected to brave the market on Wednesday.

Market participants expect to see the end of “vanilla” deals in the European bank bond market, as tier two debt becomes the latest asset class to embrace call periods over call dates.

Nordea made a rare entry into the euro tier two market on Monday, taking advantage of strong issuance conditions to steer its pricing in close to fair value.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their funding programmes in early May.

Solidium, the organisation that manages the investments of the Finnish government, has reduced its stake in SSAB after the steel maker reported a strong set of first quarter earnings.

Finland and Germany have provided an update on their second quarter funding plans, with the former looking to issue its second euro benchmark of the year.

Všeobecná úverova banka (VUB) issued a €500m five year covered bond on Wednesday at the tightest spread for any issuer from Slovakia. At the same time the Mortgage Society of Finland issued a sub-benchmark sized 10 year at close to fair value. The resounding outcomes for both deals partly reflected the generous spreads on offer. At the same time OP Mortgage Bank has announced plans to issue its debut green covered bond.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their funding programmes in early March.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, March 1. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.