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Euro had a strong close to last week as 14 trades were closed for $1.08 billion. Three issuers went for particularly lengthy maturities and all looked for the same volume. Abbey National Treasury Services did a euro30 million ($26.84 million) note that reaches out to November 19 2041.UBS (Jersey) did a euro trade for the same date and volume. And Dexia Credit Local de France went out even further - to December 1 2041 - with its euro30 million trade. As well as Abbey National Treasury Services, other UK issuers were active. Royal Bank of Scotland closed a 12-year euro5 million note. And Barclays Bank did a euro5 million note with a maturity of five years. Also issuing was Bear Stearns who closed two eight-year euro10 million notes off its $5 billion Euro-Dragon MTN Programme. Merrill Lynch also closed two five-year trades for euro8.90 million and euro12.90 million. And DaimlerChrysler North America Holding did a euro250 million note. The two-year trade has a spread of 164bp and was led by Caboto-Gruppo Intesabci.

Euro trading was up substantially on Tuesday as 19 trades were closed for $5.65 billion. A euro5 billion ($4.41 billion) note from European Investment Bank off its euro17 billion Euro-area reference note programme dominated volume. The trade pays an annual interest until January 15 2007. Salomon Smith Barney was busy on the dealing side. It led a three-year euro13 million note for Municipality Finance and a one-year euro100 million note for DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank. Other German issuers were active. Munchener Hypothekenbank did a one-year euro100 million note that pays an annual coupon of 2.080%. Deutsche Bahn Finance closed a euro750 million note via Deutsche Bank. The note is priced to yield 33bp over the swap rate and goes out to November 28 2013. And Deutsche Bank was also issuing - a euro23.73 million note that reaches out to October 24 2013. Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten did a euro100 million trade that has a three-year tenor. The note carries an annual coupon of 3.530% and is non-call one. Goldman Sachs was the bookrunner. Fellow Dutch issuer, Rabobank Nederland, also closed for euro100 million. The six-year note pays an annual coupon of 2.000%. Elsewhere, Banco Comercial Portugues did a three-year euro6 million note that pays interest on a semi-annual basis. And Banque Generale du Luxembourg closed a two-year euro3 million MTN that carries a coupon of 10.500%.

Fifteen euro trades were made on Thursday and UK issuers were particularly active. Alliance & Leicester Group Treasury did a three-year euro300 million ($264.64 million) MTN via JPMorgan. The note carries a coupon of 3m Euribor+12.5bp. Barclays Bank also went out for three-years, with its euro20 million note. Scottish & Newcastle went for shorter maturity, closing a six-month euro50 million MTN. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) closed three notes for euro5.30 million combined. It did a six-month euro2.80 million note and a three-year euro1.50 million note. It also closed a euro1 million note that matures on July 5 2002. The note pays a single coupon of 8.250%. All three trades come off the issuer's euro20 billion Euro-MTN programme. Elsewhere, the financial repackaged sector went for lengthy maturities. Sires-STAR (Merrill Lynch arranged) did a ten-year euro50 million note that pays interest on a semi-annual basis. Euro-Sires (Merrill Lynch arranged) closed a euro10 million note that pays a coupon of 5.450%. The note goes out to November 15 2018. And Eirles Two (Deutsche Bank arranged) issued a euro63 million note that reaches out to February 20 2019.

Bucking the trend of a global M&A slowdown, Finnish energy group Fortum has announced its plans to acquire a 50% stake in Swedish Birka Energi. Fortum is buying out the City of Stockholm's 50% stake in Birka for a cash offer of Skr14.5bn.

For some in the careers industry, the current climate is proving fruitful. "Business has almost doubled this year," says Caroline Swain, managing director of Lee Hecht Harrison Ltd (LHH). She suspects that it may have increased even more for others, such as Meridian Consulting, one of the market leaders in the City of London. At Right Management Consultants (RMC), Anthony Payne, director, reports: "Events have accelerated and we are exceptionally busy. September 11 compounded the recessionary effects being imported from the US." All three companies deal in outplacement, the business of managing career change and transition, generally following redundancy. "We are the other side of the coin to headhunters," says Swain.

Your long term business partner, your consultant, your career adviser, your friend who puts you in a taxi at midnight. Whatever you call them, headhunters are keen to stress that they provide a multi-faceted service to the financial industry. And right now the pressure is on for recruitment firms to prove their worth. Their practices and services are coming under far closer scrutiny as the slowdown bites and they find themselves just as vulnerable as their client base. Quentin Carruthers visits the recruiters to report on their unique view of the banking world.

Strategic hiring In Bob Diamond Barclays Capital has a leader capable of attracting top talent. Furthermore, Barclays is not lumbered with poorly performing corporate finance and equity divisions and can afford to make strategic hires. Diamond's attempted raid on the New York investment grade bond team at Credit Suisse First Boston grabbed headlines earlier this year, reportedly forcing CSFB's then CEO Allen Wheat to agree to generous guaranteed contracts to persuade his bankers to stay. Diamond went on to make a successful bid for Deutsche Bank's Grant Kvalheim, John Winter and Peter Goettler.

The Republic of Hungary will not tap the international markets next year, or at least not via its debt management agency, the Államadóság Kezelö Központ (AKK). "We have decided with the AKK to do all new borrowing in the domestic market," said an official at the finance ministry. "The AKK is trying to improve domestic liquidity and lengthen the yield curve - it issued the first 15 year bond last week - and should continue"

Industrivarden, the Swedish holding company, signed a euro500 million ($441.45 million) Euro-CP programme last Thursday, November 8. Barclays Capital arranged the facility, which is the issuer's first instrument set up to tap the debt capital markets. The new programme will begin trading in January next year, although no specific plans about currency, size or maturity have yet been made. Lars von Celsing, finance manager at Industrivarden, says: "We will have to follow the market. This programme has been planned for some time, but the market is a little unstable at the moment. I think it should settle at the beginning of next year though." Industrivarden is rated A-1 by Standard & Poor's. It is the first Swedish Euro-CP signing this year and only the fourth since the beginning of last year. The lack of competition from the region, especially the financial sector - the last Swedish financial to sign a Euro-CP was Spintab in July 1999 - means no investor roadshow is planned. It is the fourth arrangership Barclays Capital has won this year. Von Celsing expects outstandings off the shelf to reach about 50% of the euro500 million limit, adding: "We also have a domestic programme that is active, so this is more like an additional funding source rather than a major strategic move into external markets." The dealers off the programme are the arranger, Citibank and Deutsche Bank.

Ile de France has put its name to a euro500 million ($893.42 million) French CP programme. BNP Paribas and HSBC CCF are the joint arrangers. Jerome Pellet, public sector origination at HSBC CCF, says: "This is a really important move as it is the first French region to sign a CP programme. We are sure that the programme will do well and that we will see more French regions coming to the market." The signature comes six months after Ile de France signed its long-awaited euro1 billion Euro-MTN programme. The issuer has still to make its first issue off the facility but Andre Autrand, chief financial officer at Ile de France, says: "We are preparing an MTN issue of euro100 million and people will see this on their screens in the next few weeks." Ile de France used the Bloomberg network to market its MTN programme and Autrand is considering it for the new facility. Autrand says: "We will use all means to speak with investors and this includes electronic devices such as the Bloomberg, roadshow, which we used for our MTN programme." Moody's and Standard & Poor's rate the programme P-1 and A-1+ respectively. The appointed dealers on the programme are the arrangers, CDC IXIS Capital Markets, CIC, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Natexis-Banques Populaires and SG.

Interbanca and UniCredito Banca Mobiliare (UBM SpA) have won the mandate to arrange a Eu955m loan for Italian broadband internet services provider FastWeb SpA. The headline margin on the credit is 437.5bp, a spread over 80bp wider than any previous deal in the Italian loan market, according to Dealogic Loanware. The corporate loan supports the build-out of the borrower's fibre-optic cable network, and is similar in structure to a project finance transaction.