Norway

The Norges Bank surprised the market with an unexpected base rate cut to a record low of zero on Thursday. Since the start of the year, coronavirus volatility and wildly gyrating oil prices have buffeted the value of the kroner.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes in early May.

Pexip, the Norwegian video conferencing company, has launched its Nkr2.14bn ($206m) IPO on the Oslo stock exchange.

Norwegian video conferencing firm Pexip has shown that there may yet be life in Europe's IPO market, which had been presumed incapacitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Investors said they are happy to buy new flotations but probably only a select group of companies will be able to come to market.

Norwegian video conferencing company Pexip has been hailed by equity capital markets bankers as an ideal IPO for the times amid a surge in remote working due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The oil price slump on Monday spelt trouble for issuers in the already underperforming Norwegian krone bond market. Amid this turbulence, state-owned Norwegian airport operator Avinor flew in on Wednesday to print a Nkr2bn ($187.8m) dual floating and fixed tranche deal.

The prices of Western Canada Select and West Texas Intermediate dropped below zero during trading on Monday, spelling trouble for issuers in the already underperforming Norwegian krone and Canadian dollar.

Svenska Handelsbanken was the only financial institution to issue senior debt in euros this week. The issuance came at a time Swedish banks have been granted an extension of two years to comply with regulatory targets for MREL debt, which might make a short-term dent in issuance.

Swedish Export Credit (SEK) joined the ranks of SSAs increasing their funding programmes in response to the Covid-19 crisis this week. Meanwhile, Norway’s Kommunalbanken (KBN) has dropped its target by $2bn as a result of a weakening Norwegian kroner.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes at the start of the second quarter.

Belgium has picked banks for a seven year benchmark, publishing the mandate just after joining the throng of sovereigns upping their funding requirements. Norway has also raised the size of its borrowing programme.

The Norwegian government’s support package for large companies goes beyond that announced in other jurisdictions, in actively buying bonds from companies deep in sub-investment grade territory, helping the country's vital oil exploration, shipping and oil services firms to access financing.