France

Intercontinental Exchange has obtained approval from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for its ICE Clear US business to be recognised as a third country central counterparty under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

US politics are the biggest potential threat to market stability in 2017, outstripping concerns over a series of European presidential and general elections, according to Philippe Noël, head of capital markets at Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale. Noël made the comment as the French agency outlined its funding plans for 2017.

Investors plugged another €3.5bn into the second ever senior non-preferred bond from Société Générale this week, in an early sign the market will be able to digest the large quantities expected from French banks next year.

Bats Europe is to add several benchmark indices spanning French, German, Italian and Swiss markets and expects these to support derivatives products in the future.

Groupe SEB has set a new record for a French borrower tapping the booming Schuldschein market, raising a whopping €800m to help it buy a German company.

Investors greeted Crédit Agricole’s market opening senior non-preferred trade with more than €5bn of orders on Tuesday, allowing the issuer to bring pricing closer to its vanilla senior curve. Société Générale quickly showed it wanted to be next in line, in what is shaping up as an encouraging start for the new asset class.

The renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) scheme is set to end 2016 on a disappointing note with the combined value of quotas awarded amounting to roughly half of last year’s total.

Amundi’s shares closed at a record high on Monday, up 5.4%, after it announced it would use a €1.4bn rights issue and €600m of senior and subordinated debt to buy Pioneer Investments from UniCredit.

Crédit Agricole looks set to issue its first ever senior non-preferred bond this month, after Sapin II was finally passed into French law on December 11.

Crédit Agricole announced a mandate for the first ever senior non-preferred bond on Thursday, in a move that confirmed French banks are very keen to start issuing in the format.

JP Morgan was hit hardest as the European Commission on Wednesday fined three banks a total of €485m for manipulating markets in a euro interest rate derivatives cartel.

Political uncertainty and a tough economic outlook across the EMEA region will leave companies no choice but to operate with caution in 2017, focusing on balance sheet repair rather than expansion, rating agency Fitch said in a report on Tuesday.