Italy

Unione di Banche Italiane (UBI Banca) wasted little time in following Crédit Agricole Cariparma with the second Italian Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite of the year. The relatively small sized €500m tranches were just oversubscribed, reflecting the fact they were priced deeply through multiyear treasury bonds (BTPs).

Chinese financial regulators publish fresh rules on the bond market to control leverage, China’s FX reserves grow again to $3.14tr in December, and Bank of China completes a RMB salary payment for Chinese diplomats abroad after the central bank’s call to push for cross-border RMB transactions.

Crédit Agricole Cariparma took advantage of the exceptionally tight spread environment to issue the first 20 year Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG) on Thursday and completed the final leg of its 2018 funding requirement at a record spread through BTPs.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has picked banks to arrange a new tier two transaction — its first bond offering since being recapitalised by the Italian state in July 2017.

Crédit Agricole Cariparma returned to the market on Thursday to complete the final leg of its 2018 funding requirement, taking advantage of the exceptionally tight spread environment while it still exists.

The visible deal pipeline of the European high yield bond market is expected to end the week empty, but the list of potential new borrowers keeps growing. Speciality paper manufacturer Fedrigoni is the latest.

Italian banks are expected to begin issuing non-preferred senior bonds for the first time, after the country’s parliament approved a package of reforms as part of its latest budget law.

The Italian retail bond market is going through a major shake-up in which alternative investments are set to replace bank bonds among the securities of choice for Italian households. Tyler Davies reports.

Italy has weathered, with remarkable resilience, a turbulent year in European politics. While it still faces its own turmoils — an approaching parliamentary election in particular — its recovering economy and process of economic and political reforms have given investors the confidence to put money to work in Italian assets. The next 12 months will see the ECB reducing its quantitative easing programme and a host of new regulatory challenges, but the Italian treasury is confident that it, and the banks with which it works, will be able to adapt to the new challenges and opportunities 2018 holds.

Banca Carige's largest shareholder, Malacalza Investimenti, has subscribed for another €25m of shares in the bank, about 36% of those that were available to it under an option it held. This means Carige will raise €544m in its capital increase.

Holders of the rights auctioned in the rump sale after Banca Carige's rights issue have subscribed for only €22.8m of the €167m of shares available to them. The largest shareholder has 12 hours to exercise an option to buy €69.5m of the remainder.

Enel, the Italian electricity and gas company, has signed a €10bn syndicated loan to refinance a facility from 2015, with pricing 27.5bp tighter.