Pre-migration untagged articles

Canada's credit unions are exploring ways of emulating Spain’s savings banks by issuing pooled covered bonds, said Gilbert Ménard, capital division managing director at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Structured finance and credit derivative specialists, as well as banks and their investors, strained this week to peer ahead through the mist and discern how splitting the monoline bond insurance industry — which seems more probable day by day — would affect them financially.

Unilever made a rare appearance as corporate bond issuance remained in vogue in the Swiss franc bond market this week, with BNP Paribas and UBS riding out volatile markets to bring a Sfr600m ($547m) issue.

A wave of redemptions and strong appetite for the highest quality of covered bonds saw Landesbank Baden-Württemberg bring only the second sub-Libor transaction of 2008 this week.

THE BIDDING saga for UK bank Northern Rock was brought to an end on Sunday when the government made the decision to nationalise the troubled lender.

The US dollar swaps market has abandoned the pattern of trading in steady 0.25bp increments. Mid-term swap spreads dealt in a range of no less than 10bp this week as the market surged back and forth.

DEUTSCHE Börse Group, the operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange, reported record earnings for the financial year 2007, bucking fears about increased competition from alternative trading platforms.

Single-A banks struggled to find investor demand this week, with many investors holding on to their cash and most bank buying going into the double-A sector. Meanwhile, the scarcity of corporate names ensured a strong bid continued in the sector.

DRESDNER Kleinwort, the investment banking subsidiary of German insurance company Allianz, unveiled a Eu659m loss for 2007, caused by Eu1.3bn of writedowns relating to exposure to US subprime mortgage related securities.

OTP Mortgage Bank successfully priced the first jumbo covered bond from Hungary on Monday. Leads ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank said that the deal had gone well and was continuing its strong performance in the secondary market.