French Sovereign

Greece and France mandated banks on Monday for new benchmark offerings at the long end of the curve, the former bringing its longest bond since the eurozone debt crisis. The sovereigns are taking advantage of a sharp rally in core and peripheral eurozone sovereign yields, partially engendered by a flight to quality over the coronavirus scare.

Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale has a €4bn funding programme lined up for 2020, matching the total it raised in 2019.

The Swiss franc bond market has been able to withstand — just — the destructive forces of negative rates and yields and is looking forward to a new year in which green structures are set to blossom. Philip Moore reports

Specialisation could define MTNs in 2020 as the market looks to differentiate itself from public markets where borrowers are easily executing large, cheap, liquid benchmarks. MTN dealers’ change of focus is shaking up the league tables. Frank Jackman reports

Morgan Stanley has been fined €20m by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) for manipulation of French and Belgian government bond prices. The bank intends to appeal the fine.

Two French public sector agencies have closed their borrowing programmes for the year below their planned size, with one agency cutting short its funding by almost a third.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of November.

The sterling public sector bond market was alive on Tuesday as the UK sold the penultimate syndication of its financial year and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations returned to the currency for the first time since January 2018.

France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations is preparing to make a rare appearance in the sterling market for a two year fixed rate trade.

After making its debut in the capital markets last week, France’s Action Logement Services (ALS) plans to issue bonds and private placements across various maturities under its 100% sustainable euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme.

The European Stability Mechanism has chosen a five year tenor to kick off its funding for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, a French public sector agency is out with its debut sustainable benchmark bond.

The French government, Caisse des Dépôts and La Banque Postale have signed an agreement in principle for the transfer of the majority of Société de Financement Local’s capital to Caisse des Dépôts.