France

Unédic, the French unemployment agency, raised €4bn on Wednesday with a November 2029 social bond — its third under its new funding programme, which consists entirely of social bonds.

Unédic is preparing to issue its second social bond following its debut trade in the format less than a month ago — itself the biggest social bond ever from any issuer.

The coronavirus crisis may have hit overall covered bond supply prospects, but it has provided a silver lining for some banks — such as Credit Suisse, ING and Commerzbank which have all fared well in the covered bond league tables this year.

French aerospace and defence company Safran has entered the US private placement market, according to market sources, looking for at least €400m.

Spain and SNCF SA announced new euro benchmarks with 20 year maturities on Monday, following the European Investment Bank’s record-breaking effort in the tenor last Friday.

After the global eruption of the coronavirus pandemic, issuers such as governments, central banks and companies have been prompted to create new strategies to tackle the negative effects. Banks have also recently begun issuing labelled bonds linked ot their Covid responses.

La Banque Postale and Société Générale took advantage of favourable conditions in the financial institutions bond market on Monday to launch non-preferred senior deals in euros and make progress towards completing their 2020 funding plans.

After a rocky two months, the CP market is starting to normalise as spreads track in to their pre-pandemic levels and borrowers find themselves flush with cash.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Deutsche Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group this week sourced environmental, social and governance senior funding in euros, amid a shortage of supply in the format.

A trio of double-A rated SSA names from South Korea, Central America and France tapped the Swiss franc market this week, raising a combined Sfr550m ($575.8m) and paving the way for other similar issuers to follow.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has joined a fast-growing list of banks marketing Covid-19 response funding in the bond market, raising €750m in non-preferred senior format on Thursday to finance projects through its social bond framework that tackle the effects of the pandemic

Nordea Bank took advantage of very attractive conditions in the dollar market this week to price a new senior deal at a spread that was well below the fair value implied by secondary trading levels.