Italy
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UniCredit took advantage of a strong rally in subordinated paper to raise €750m of new tier two funding on Thursday, despite being on the lookout for a new chief executive and a new capital strategy. -
Banca Carige may follow the example of Portugal’s Montepio, which on Friday said it would restructure its covered bond programme to a conditional pass-through (CPT), resulting in a three notch upgrade. The Italian bank’s bonds were junked by Fitch on Thursday, and with access to primary markets at risk, it may copy Monte dei Paschi Siena which switched to a CPT last year.
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Italy sold a super rare short-dated syndication this week, but a debut 50 year benchmark — a growing trend for sovereigns this year — looks to be some way off.
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Italy brought a rare syndicated effort at the short end of the euro curve on Wednesday, but there was little sign that the unorthodox approach disturbed investors as it built an oversubscribed book at a punchy price.
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Public sector borrowers are taking advantage of some of the best conditions in the dollar market all year to print jumbo sized deals at the tightest spreads to US Treasuries in months.
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Italy has confirmed it is considering a 50 year benchmark, a deal that would put it in an exclusive club of half century sovereign issuers. But while some bankers may suggest it wait to lock in even lower yields than its peer Spain achieved last week, the issuer would be wise to move before June.
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UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo both escaped having to deduct the Atlante fund’s rescue of Banca Popolare di Vicenza from their capital. But the firms took very different equity damage from the debut deal, despite each owning a €300m stake. Owen Sanderson reports.
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Banking is a game with rules, and regulators set them. That’s why, when the chips are down, they can change them to make banks look better.
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By 2018, the European Commission will review the resolution directive that came into effect at the start of this year. In light of Italian banks’ recent struggles, maybe it's already time for a rethink.
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Concern around Banco Popolare’s first quarter results sent its equity price plummeting on Tuesday, but the shares have since retraced some of their losses as the bank looks to make rapid progress on its planned merger and capital raise.
