Nordics

A senior FIG syndicate banker has quit BNP Paribas to move to Danske Bank in Copenhagen.

Islandsbanki mandated leads for a euro bond roadshow on Thursday, as Iceland's banks return to the public debt market.

The Norwegian covered bond borrower issued its second deal of the year on Wednesday. Though the final spread was on the generous side, and the book only just covered, the overall cost of funding was less than half what it paid in March.

Swedbank returned to the sterling covered bond market to issue its second sterling deal this year. Though the issuer paid a minimal concession, the spread was almost double what it paid in August and the order book almost half.

Finland’s Municipality Finance has edged nearer to its funding goal for the year with a pair of Norwegian krone bonds, its first prints in the currency since early 2014.

Aktia Bank launched and priced its first ever Swedish krone bond on Monday, in a deal that could trigger more issuance in the currency as borrowers hunt for investor diversity.

A European agency is set to bring a green bond on Tuesday as optimism grows that SRI volumes could pick up even more over the next two months.

Aktia Bank has agreed to buy the remainder of its subsidiary, Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank (Aktia REMB), by 2017. As a result Finland’s savings banks will refinance their own mortgages by establishing a new covered bond issuing institution, expected to be called SP Mortgage Bank, which will start issuing from next year.

Garfunkelux, the German debt collection company, on Thursday issued £795m of notes in the first sizeable European high yield issue for three weeks. Market participants are now eager to see if other issuers finally follow in its steps.

Landsbankinn walked away with €300m of three year money on Monday as Icelandic debt made a return to the FIG market.

Covered bonds issued this week by Nordea Finland and DNB Boligkreditt went surprisingly well as, despite being the largest ones on offer, they were the most highly oversubscribed and subsequently posted the best performance.

A second European issuer in as many working days has pulled back from the corporate bond market, blaming challenging market conditions.