France

In brief: Crédit Agricole has mandated the first issue off its new covered bond programme to Barclays Capital, Calyon and UniCredit. The deal is expected in mid-September after a European roadshow.

HSBC Covered Bonds (France) has filed a prospectus with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange for a Eu8bn covered bond programme. Meanwhile, Crédit Agricole looks to be finally close to completing its plans for issuance, having set up a Eu35bn programme.

In brief: Standard & Poor’s today (Monday) assigned a triple-A rating to the GCE Covered Bond programme. It simultaneously withdrew the triple-A rating that had been given to a standalone transaction on a preliminary basis in May.

A Sfr200m four year deal for Compagnie de Financement Foncier launched yesterday (Thursday) proved attractive versus competing senior unsecured supply in the Swiss franc market.

Dexia LdG Banque could become a regular visitor to the public markets after its debut benchmark this autumn, Véronique Hugues, global head of long term funding at Dexia, told The Cover yesterday (Monday).

Deutsche Bank may have come first in the all benchmarks ranking for the first half of 2008, but it was by no means the strongest across all markets. Here The Cover reveals the top banks in each of the biggest sectors and examines where the leading banks’ weaknesses lie.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier’s Eu500m 18 month obligations foncières issued on Friday was in keeping with the low profile it has maintained in the public markets this year. The Cover spoke to CFF about the rationale for the trade and how it fits in with the issuer’s overall strategy.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier kept its ambitions modest this (Friday) morning in the tough market, going out with an 18 month obligations foncières issue at mid-swaps flat that could be limited to Eu500m.

Société Générale’s Eu1bn debut five year obligations foncières launched last week might have struggled for oversubscription but the issuer said today that both the pricing of the bond and the structure of the cover pool had fully satisfied investors.

After a week in which the variety of French structures was highlighted, The Cover spoke to Véronique Hugues, head of long term funding at Dexia Municipal Agency, about what the country’s issuers have in common and what differentiates them.

Société Générale’s debut obligations foncières issue is set to be priced at the low end of expectations in terms of size and price early this (Friday) afternoon. But while market participants cited doubts over the structure as an impediment to the deal’s acceptance, one banker involved said that the pricing vindicated SG’s strategy.