Pre-migration untagged articles

The UK has announced the creation of two new industry groups on insurance and asset management. The two working groups whose task will be to discuss the challenges and opportunity in the insurance and asset management sectors will be meeting over the next 10 to 15 years. Both groups will be time-bound and industry-led.

The US dollar swap spread curve flattened sharply this week as different tenors continue to be affected by sharply different factors.

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp) has relaxed the minimum standards for increases to jumbo Pfandbriefe to make it easier for issuers and dealers to offer paper in the illiquid market conditions.

The UK’s Financial Services Authority yesterday added the first seven banks to its Regulated Covered Bond Register. However, one bank has temporarily suspended its application. The regulator had originally been expected to give its first approvals in September. Read EuroWeek on Friday for more.

Equity bankers are breathing a sigh of relief on the news of the take-up of Finmeccanica’s Eu1.22bn rights issue. The Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca-led deal closed with 98% of the rights subscribed even after the shares had dropped up to 50% during the offer period. The news might give confidence to Goldman in particular, as well as Credit Suisse and UBS, who have underwritten the £2.2bn rights issue for UK energy business Centrica, scheduled to launch next week.

Irish borrowers may issue their first government guaranteed MTNs by the end of this week, following Royal Bank of Scotland’s Eu1bn one year private placement struck last week. But questions remain about the relative value of the UK and Irish guarantees, and supply may take longer to emerge.

Both Lloyds TSB and Nationwide are making the most of the ever increasing demand for UK government guaranteed bonds this week. Lloyds priced a dual tranche £3bn equivalent three year on Monday and Nationwide will issue a single tranche sterling deal today. To find out all about the deals, read EuroWeek this week.

KfW is expected to be the next agency to print after this week’s deals for Société de Financement de l’Economie Francaise (SFEF) and Asfinag. But what level can it achieve with SFEF setting final guidance at plus 5bp, Asfinag pricing at plus 45bp and Lloyds, guaranteed by the UK government at plus 20bp? Read EuroWeek on Friday for the latest discussions and the outcome of SFEF’s debut.

A trickle of deals this week looks like a torrent compared to the last couple of months, as corporate issuers return to the bond market. Both Schipol Airport and RWE will price issues today as the corporate bond market continues to gain strength. For full coverage of all the deals pricing this week, read EuroWeek this Friday.

With supply, mortgage buying and lower money market rates, US dollar swap spreads continue to contract and thirty year spreads are still deeply negative. After weeks of inflated levels, it's a one way street for spreads at the moment.

Unilever this week became the latest corporate borrower to tempt Swiss franc investors, printing Sfr400m three year at 140bp over mid-swaps, just five basis points tighter than Nederlandse Gasunie’s deal last week.

Swedbank could be the first issuer from continental Europe to try to sell government guaranteed bonds. The issuer has received a triple A rating from Fitch for its forthcoming issuance and could test the water soon. Market participants have already started to discuss where such a deal should price, in line or inside UK government guaranteed debt.