The Securities and Exchange Commission has tried to cut the risk of runs in the money market fund industry by introducing liquidity fees and redemption gates. But as the Federal Reserve has just pointed out, by doing so it has done the opposite of what it intended, and made the funds more like banks.
The International Finance Corp is scouting for the next opportunity to develop green bonds in emerging markets, following its sale of the first such bond from an international issuer in the Peruvian market this week.
Investors starved of paper from well-funded borrowers and the summer slowdown allowed the State of Berlin to increase a €100m 10 year print to €250m this week, following a €125m eight year from the sub-sovereign a day before.
Ireland’s capital market renaissance spread to the very short end of the curve this week, as it sold its largest piece of commercial paper outside its home currency in two years. Meanwhile, the sovereign is also seeking to reduce its near term redemption pile as part of its recovery process after coming off International Monetary Fund and European Union support last year.
The World Bank could follow up a series of dollar private placements linked to CMS rates after receiving strong demand for the structure. Other issuers could follow suit as investors bet on the US Federal Reserve increasing interest rates next year.
SSAs in the European Union have slashed their outstanding volumes of commercial paper and certificates of deposit in euros by over 15% since the European Central Bank cut its deposit rate by 10bp to minus 0.1% on June 5. The figures come as Standard & Poor’s warned that the rate cut could cause investors to pull out of money market funds — one of the ECP market’s most important investor bases.
Longer than normal floating rate notes and currency plays could provide a large part of the private placement landscape over the coming months, funding officials and dealers said this week, in the wake of the European Central Bank’s decision on June 5 to lower interest rates.
Kommuninvest has tightened its medium term note levels after finding increased demand following speculation that covered bonds — which the agency prices relative to — could attain Level 1 status under Basel III’s liquidity coverage ratio put downward pressure on its funding costs. It comes as the issuer also enjoyed a revisit to euros, printing private placements in the currency for the first time since October 2011.