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* Alliance & Leicester Group Treasury plc Guarantor: Alliance & Leicester plc

Thirty-six trades were announced in US dollar yesterday, representing under 20% of the market volume. Issuance at the short end was down on the previous day, with only HSBC Investment Bank (Netherlands) trading in the one-month sector with a $20 million note. Unibanco - Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros came closest, also with a $20 million note that has a six-month tenor. The Brazilian issuer also issued in the one-year sector with a $3 million note, as did Bank of Scotland Treasury Services with a $100 million FRN. Ursa Minor, Bear Stearns's financial repackaged entity, closed a $25 million three-year note. And Britannia Building Society closed a four-year $17.65 million note. Lehman Brothers led two trades in the five-year sector: a syndicated FRN for Alliance & Leicester Group Treasury for $300 million that pays a final coupon of Libor+0.15%. And a non-syndicated $6 million FRN for Abbey National Treasury Services. BNP Paribas did the longest-dated note: a $10 million 10-year trade that pays interest semi-annually.

The European Central Bank cut rates by 25bp to 4.25% yesterday (Thursday) in response to slowing inflation and the slowdown in economic growth, leaving the door open for further cuts before year end. Short dated government yields fell sharply on the news, but the bond market was largely unchanged, with the focus very much on the ballooning corporate pipeline. But ahead of the September rush, new issuance was again thin on the ground. Nevertheless, the rapid digestion of transactions such as a Eu400m deal for Charbonnages de France and a Eu1bn issue from WestLB testified to the liquidity available for new product.

Austria Bank Austria has been mandated to arrange a Eu70m seven year loan for Austrian printed circuit board manufacturer Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (AT&S).

* ABB International Finance Ltd Keepwell agreement from: ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd

Friday's yen trading was dominated by Germany, Australia, Japan and Cayman Islands-based issuers. Earls Ltd, the Deutsche Bank arranged conduit, Mascot Investments from Daiwa SBCM and Voyager (Cayman), the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank International-backed SPV, all issued yen. Sizes varied from ¥500 million ($4.16 million) to ¥1.3 billion, and terms from three to 10 years. Daiwa was involved again under its Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe name, with a ¥500.31 million one-month trade, and a ¥1.2 billion 15-year trade. The former pays a final coupon of 6%. And Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corp, also from Japan, announced a ¥2 billion 11-year trade that pays a final coupon of 1.15%. The three Australian issuers did five trades between them. Macquarie Bank issued the two smallest: a ¥50.4 million three-month note and a ¥51.95 million six-month note. Export Finance and Insurance Corp also announced two trades. They were both ¥1 billion 20-year notes, and one pays a final coupon of 4%. The other issuer from Australia was Coles Myer Finance with a ¥1 billion two-year note. But it was the triple-As that were most popular again. KfW International Finance, Kommunekredit, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbenk and Nederlandse Waterschapbank all announced respectively 25-year, 20-year, 12-year and 30-year ¥1 billion trades.

A Swiss engineering company was responsible for the high yen volume traded yesterday. ABB International Finance announced a ¥50 billion ($416.67 million) syndicated trade that goes out to September 2005. Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg were the lead managers and the note is priced to yield approximately 20 basis points over the 3% 20/9/2005 Japanese government bond. The only other Swiss company announcing a trade was UBS (Jersey). It did a ¥550 million three-month deal. The Aa3 bracket was quite active. As well as the ABB International Finance trade, DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank was issuing. It announced a ¥1 billion 10-year deal that pays a final coupon of 1.3%. Deutsche Bank did a ¥500 million and a ¥1 billion note. They go out to September 2016 and September 2021 respectively. And Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Japan (Cayman Islands) also announced a ¥1 billion 15-year trade. But single-As were also doing business. Industrial Bank of Japan Finance did a ¥400 million note that goes out to November 2009. Its final coupon is 2.06%. And St Michael Finance did its 13th note of the year: a ¥3 billion trade that matures in September 2002. Credit Lyonnais Finance announced a ¥49.41 two-month note, and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International did a 15-year ¥300 million trade.

The yen sector had one if its busiest days for some time yesterday. And the year's biggest yen trade was announced too. A ¥500 billion ($4.17 billion) non-syndicated deal from African Development Bank. It goes out to September 2021 and has a final coupon of 3.5%. Triple-As were the flavour of the day by far. African Development Bank also did a ¥500 million 30-year deal. CDC IXIS Capital Markets announced a ¥850 million 25-year trade that has Merrill Lynch as bookrunner. The French company also did a ¥500 million note and a ¥300 million note. Both mature in 30 years. Merrill Lynch led a deal for Exportfinans too. It was a ¥1 billion 15-year trade. And Energie Beheer Nederland announced a ¥1 billion 10-year trade that pays 2%. The only triple-Bs issuing anything were Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe, with a ¥500 million 12-year trade, and Konica Finance USA Corp, with a ¥2 billion one-year note. But single-As were almost as popular as the triple-As. Hypothekenbank in Essen announced a ¥30 billion one-year note that pays a final coupon of 0.05%. GMAC (Australia) Finance did a ¥1 billion three-year trade, and France Telecom announced a ¥10 billion note that goes out to September next year. Coles Myer Finance did a ¥3 billion three-year trade that pays a final coupon of 1.74%.

Fortis has been dropped as an issuer off Fortis Finance's Euro-MTN programme. BNP Paribas and Rabobank International have been added as dealers. In addition, the ceiling off the programme has been increased from euro3 billion to euro10 billion ($9.12 billion). Fortis signed its programme in April 1999. It has $3.27 billion outstanding off 19 trades.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan this week completed a Eu633.1m securitisation of residential and commercial non-performing mortgages originated by Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). ARES Finance Srl refinances a portfolio of bad loans that JP Morgan bought from BNL last December (see EuroWeek 686).

The Israeli medical technology company Given Imaging is to start roadshows next week for its $70m IPO. The company will hope to impress investors in this difficult period by showing them the possibilities of its revolutionary technology. Given has developed a method of examining human intestines, which is far preferable to the alternatives that have been used in the past. The company has designed a camera concealed in a pill to examine intestines for cancer. The pill technology has been patented by Given and the company has also developed the back end system.

The Hiroshima Bank has added JPMorgan as a dealer to its ¥100 billion ($835.70 million) Euro-MTN programme. The issuer signed its ¥100 billion Euro subordinated note programme in August 1997. The Hiroshima Bank has $423.03 million outstanding off 21 trades. The programme was arranged by Schroder Salomon Smith Barney.