Santander

Maintaining confidence in the system relies on trust that leaders — those selected for their competence and character to set the course for the rest of us — are well informed, able to communicate with others at their level and take decisions that serve the interests of those they lead.

Santander has said it would not be hiring Andrea Orcel as group chief executive after all, because the cost of buying him out of previous compensation awarded at UBS would be too high. But sources close to and away from the situation said that the Spanish bank under Orcel would have also looked to poach other senior UBS employees, potentially sending the buy-out bill spiralling.

Deutsche Bank returned to the covered bond market to issue a perfectly choreographed Pfandbrief. The deal was launched into a relatively quiet market and quickly attracted strong demand, enabling leads to set terms very early in the day despite underlying market concerns.

Financial institutions have largely shied away from raising debt in the euro market this week, despite a general improvement in financing conditions. With banks cautious about a number of possible risks to market stability, issuance volumes could be set to remain subdued.

Guarantor: Kingdom of Spain

French toll road operator APRR started its funding plans earlier than previous years when it sold a €500m nine year deal on Thursday. Its November deal was its only transaction in 2018, but even in busier years it has waited until May before getting started.

The public sector euro market’s thundering start to the year stayed noisy on Thursday as a quartet of smaller issuers from across the continent printed oversubscribed deals.

French toll road operator APRR started its funding plans earlier than previous years when it sold a €500m nine year deal on Thursday. The company’s November deal was its only transaction in 2018, but even in busier years it has waited until May to get started.

Appetite for eurozone sovereigns is showing no signs of slowing down after Ireland and Portugal joined Belgium this week in scoring their largest ever syndication order books. Several other borrowers sold euro trades on Wednesday, with more supply expected this week as the pipeline has “accelerated” ahead of next week’s parliamentary vote on the UK’s Brexit deal.

After a run of triple-B rated corporate bond issuance, A-rated names have returned to the market and paid lower premiums than the higher beta issuers had, but 10.75 years remains the longest tenor to date.

Poor market conditions at the start of 2019 could leave investors facing a long wait for new subordinated bank bond supply in euros, adding to a month without any issuance in the sector.

Nomura has hired Tom Lowe to cover financial institutions in the UK and Ireland.