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Credit Suisse has become the first Swiss bank to issue a green bond in the euro market, and has also marketed a rare floating rate note. The trades were testament to improving market conditions and the ability for strong names to sell less common products.

Issuance in the financial institutions bond market had a preferred senior flavour this week, with issuers finding this the most cost-effective funding compared with other asset classes. In addition, some of them can use it to fulfil regulatory requirements.

Nordea Bank and Erste Group Bank were marketing preferred senior bonds on Wednesday, finding demand in the seven year part of the curve following a flurry of five year deals earlier this week.

Danske Bank was marketing a preferred senior bond on Tuesday, taking swift advantage of recent changes in Denmark that will allow banks to use these instruments to count towards their regulatory debt requirements.

Qatar National Bank issued its third bond of the year on Tuesday, pulling in $3.5bn of orders by the time it released guidance for a five year deal that affirmed the market access for the top tier names in emerging markets.

Rabobank exercised a call option on one of its outstanding additional tier ones this week, with market participants expecting redemption to become the rule rather than the exception during the coronavirus crisis.

Rating: Baa1/A-/BBB

The European Investment Bank and the Region of Madrid stood out in the public sector bond market this week, with the former achieving its biggest ever order book for a euro benchmark.

Corporate bond bankers expect May to be a blockbuster month, as syndicate officials say that coronavirus pandemic fatigue has set in and the market has stopped worrying about it.

Signify, the Dutch lighting company, got roaring demand for its acquisition bridge takeout bond on Thursday — its maiden issue — as it tempted investors with an eye-catching initial spread.

Rabobank has become the first Dutch bank to enter the credit markets in over two months, after launching a non-preferred senior bond on Wednesday. The issuer tacked on a call option, which bankers say are cheap to deliver in the market at the moment.

Any impression that the European corporate bond market was returning to more measured levels of activity was zapped on Tuesday, when five new issues were launched that had to squeeze more than €35bn of bids into just €6.25bn of paper.