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*David Robins has quit after ING Groep announced a review of its investment banking operation, ING Barings. His deputy as head of investment banking, Malcolm le May, has also decided to leave. A transitional leadership has been appointed. Michael Tilmant, vice chair of the ING group executive board, and Hessel Lindenbergh, another member of the group executive board, are to take over.

Nestle Capital has increased the limit off its euro4 billion multicurrency global commercial CP programme to euro8 billion. Credit Suisse First Boston has been added to the dealer panel and National Westminster has been dropped. Nestle Australia has also been added as an issuer.

Market report: Compiled by Gerard Perrignon, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 20 7653 4557

Nomura Europe Finance has increased the ceiling of its $4 billion Euro Note programme to $5 billion. There is $3.36 billion outstanding off 276 notes, the majority of which are in yen.

Nomura Global Funding has decreased the limit off its $6 billion Euro note programme to $5 billion. The programme, signed in 1998, has over $3.3 billion outstanding off 11 trades.

The security of US dollars has lured Norges Statsbaner into a $30 million trade, the issuer's last deal of the year. The eight-year note is callable after three years and offers 7.05% throughout the tenor. Tore Eileresen, treasurer at Norges Statsbaner, says: "Whether we call depends on the development of the swap market, because as we swap all trades back into Norwegian krone this is the most important part of the market for us." All the issuer's funding this year, $293.27 million, has come from five trades off the euro750 million ($665.03 million) Euro-MTN programme arranged by UBS Warburg. The Swiss bank also lead-managed this deal. And although the programme has been used opportunistically, Eileresen says it has met its target for 2000.

Northern Rock has braved the US MTN market by signing a $1 billion domestic programme. Merrill Lynch arranges the facility and is joined in the dealer group by Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney. The $750 million debut issue off the facility was originally intended to be under $500 million. Often the US domestic market is seen as expensive for most European issuers despite it allowing access to capital and senior debt. Antony Swalwell, senior manager, capital markets at Northern Rock, says: "This programme will provide access to a larger pool of investors at an acceptable cost for the level of diversification achieved."

Northern Rock is issuing three notes on December 15: two four-year floating £

* Fortis Finance NV Guarantor: Fortis (B), Fortis (NL) NV

Investors looking for a safe bet will be drawn to Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten (Bouwfonds) which signed a euro5 billion ($5.16 billion) secured debt issuance programme on Wednesday. The security aspect is something which is also fairly unusual. Set up in 1946 and 90% owned by the municipalities in the Netherlands, Bouwfonds promotes home ownership, particularly with low income individuals. The security is provided through a Trust Agreement backed by mortgages. ABN Amro and BNG have both been mandated to arrange the programme while being joined in the dealer group by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Haighton & Ruth, ING Barings/BBL, JP Morgan, Nomura, Rabobank, SG and Warburg Dillon Read. Notes issued off the programme will be Aa3-rated by Moody's and will be listed in Luxembourg and Amsterdam.

Investors seeking good Scandinavian credit will welcome Norges StatsBaner's (NSB's) signing of a euro750 million ($800.47 million) Euro-MTN programme, this week. Warburg Dillon Read arranges the facility which is due to kick off with an issue in June 1999. The state-owned Norwegian railway operator, which runs all the country's railways, is the second Scandinavian issuer to come to market this year. It is rated double-A by Standard & Poor's and Aa2 by Moody's. Hans Draagen, finance director at NSB, says: "In theory all of our Nkr5billion ($643.37 million) funding needs over the next two to three years will be met by this programme. We will, however, always consider alternative funding sources to make sure we obtain the most cost efficient funding." NSB has managed to bring its programme to market ahead of Railtrack, the UK railway operator, which has had a facility in the pipeline for the last 20 months (See MTNWeek, issue 118). Railtrack is not due to sign until the end of May. Joining the arranger on the dealer panel are Handelsbanken Markets, Lehman Brothers, Paribas, SEB Capital Markets and Westdeutsche Landesbank.

Kommunalkredit Austria (OKK) is back in the euro sector. The issuer, which specialises in funding environmental projects and used to be known as Osterreichische Kommunalkredit has returned for the first time since its issuing spree in September. It issued a euro7 million ($6.1 million) trade - its smallest to date. It matures December 15 2005 and pays a final coupon of 4.2%. Martha Oberndorfer, head of the issuer's treasury, says that it is possible it may return to the market before the end of the year. "We have a number of trades in the pipeline. But we could wait to do them until next year; it depends on the market. But there seem to be quite a few institutional investors that have funds that they did not expect to have, and they do not want cash on their balance sheets at the end of the year. We may take advantage of this."