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Bank of New Zealand has signed a $2 billion global CP programme and National Australia Bank is the arranger. It is the arranger's first appearance in the global or Euro-CP market since 1994. Bank of New Zealand is expecting good investor appetite despite being the issuer's first step into the CP market. The issuer hopes its P-1 ratings from Moody's and A-1+ from Standard & Poor's will help acheive this. Allan Olsen, manager for short-term sales and trading at National Australia Bank, says: "Primary paper will be issued at Libor -10 to -12 basis points under normal market conditions. This is where we perceive the market to be with this rating." The programme was set up in anticipation of expected asset growth in New Zealand. It is only the second New Zealand issuer to have signed a Euro- or global CP programme in the last three years, but the borrower is keen to issue in a wide range of currencies. The dealers off the facility are the arranger, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS Warburg.

"Cazenove to allow public through front door - coaches welcome!" Of course it had to happen. Personally we blame it all first on the suffragettes and then the arrival of 'dress-down' Fridays. Cazenove held out magnificently against the decline in social standards but is said to have decided to throw in the towel when some of their best clients started arriving for lunch wearing Gucci loafers rather than proper hand-made lace-up shoes. "We surrendered before the trainers arrived," said an insider.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has added Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse First Boston to its euro3 billion ($2.53 billion) global CP shelf.

A number of leveraged buy-outs were being worked on this week which are unlikely to be launched before year end. DB Capital Partners and French holiday group Pierre & Vacances have signed an agreement with Scottish & Newcastle to buy its Center Parcs leisure group for Eu1.124bn (£670m).

* Cirio SpA Amount: Eu150m

Credit derivatives have so far made a far greater contribution to bank balance sheet CDOs than to arbitrage transactions - but that is beginning to change.

Finance for Danish Industry has increased its euro5 billion ($4.22 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro7 billion. Swedbank has been added as a dealer. It has also taken the opportunity to update its $200 million CP programme, signed in 1989. It has replaced it with a fresh programme with an increased ceiling of euro2 billion and appointed Citibank as the arranger. The dealers off the replacement are Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank and the issuer itself.

Ford Motor Credit has upped the limit on its euro5 billion ($4.29 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro8 billion and JP Morgan has replaced Merrill Lynch as a dealer. The facility has $4.60 billion oustanding off 29 trades.

Some dealers are pleased that there is demand for long-dated funding. "We're not printing that many tickets, but at least the deals we are doing are a little more interesting than usual." Credit-Linked & Structured Securities, Deutsche Bank's Channel Island's SPV, did a euro28.94 million ($24.31 million) trade that matures in November 18 2040. This is its seventh 40-year or longer note since March. The longest tenor it has hit is 50 years with a Ffr621 million ($91 million) note it sold in March, which paid interest semi-annually. The final coupon was 5.14%.

Freddie Mac launched and priced its second EuReference Note this week, overcoming difficult market conditions and scepticism that the borrower would be able to square its aim of offering a liquid benchmark at a clearing level with its need to maintain competitive funding levels.

Ile de France is set to become the first French local authority to join the Euro-MTN market after announcing that it will sign a euro1 billion ($857.70 billion) Euro-MTN programme early next year. The arrangers are BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch. Ile de France has decided against going on a roadshow and will instead use the Bloomberg network to market the programme. The authority has already used a Bloomberg roadshow for its euro100 million standalone issue in October 1999. Andre Autrand, chief financial officer at Ile de France, says: "We are very keen on the electronic roadshow as we have experience with it and it gets us results in the short-term. We shall also use the websites of our arrangers." In the first year the issuer will be limited to raising euro300 million. The private markets will satisfy one-third of this and two-thirds will come from larger longer-dated issues. Autrand says: "We are looking for long-dated trades up to a maximum of 15 years. In the Euro-MTN market we are looking at eight to 15 years. We would like to look beyond this but at the moment we are restricted to this maturity. Nevertheless it is an option we would consider." The issuer says it is keen to encourage reverse enquiry and hopes that use of the websites will assist this function. Autrand says: "We are hoping that reverse enquiry will let us reach new sources of finance at reduced cost. It takes three to four days for us to turn around a trade but we are making efforts to make this process quicker, especially with the internet." Despite not being guaranteed by the French government, the programme will be the first Euro-MTN facility from a European local authority rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. The dealers are ABN Amro, CDC Marches, Deutsche Bank, Dexia Capital Markets, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, UBS Warburg and the two arrangers.