France

The European Central Bank’s purchase programme will do little to aid agencies in raising cash in the commercial paper market, making little difference to rising borrowing costs and expanding programmes, according to Jérôme Margerin, head of short-term funding at ACOSS, one of Europe’s largest non-sovereign CP issuers.

Some bank treasury teams are weighing up whether to access the primary market ahead of first quarter results, with bankers suggesting they could take advantage of growing demand amid falling supply.

A measured reopening of the primary bond markets in the last month has left banks in a good place to launch new deals after first quarter results, according to FIG DCM officials.

Syctom, a French metropolitan agency responsible for household waste management in the Île-de-France region, printed its debut bond at the end of last week, selling a green bond that will go towards funding sustainable waste management projects in the Paris region.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) will tap the dollar market this week to become the latest public sector borrower to print a bond in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

BPCE seized an opportunity to launch €1.5bn of preferred senior funding this week — an asset class that has outperformed all other bank funding products in the market in recent trading sessions.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes by the middle of April.

BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole enjoyed the best of conditions as they reopened the market for non-preferred senior bonds from eurozone banks this week, but Société Générale ran into market turbulence when it emerged a day later. Bankers said that showed that demand for the instrument remains limited.

Agence France Trésor, the French sovereign debt office, has published a second draft budget bill for 2020, which will see it issue much more debt than previously announced.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Tuesday, April 14. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Société Générale continued the streak of French bail-in bond issuance on Wednesday but had to pay a higher new issue premium compared to its compatriots.

French president Emmanuel Macron may have extended the country’s Covid-19 lockdown until May 11 but equity bankers took hope from his address to the country this week.