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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."

The one-year Swiss franc sector has attracted a handful of European banks, with most opting to issue trades that are not eligible for MTNWeek's league table, maturing one-day short of the full year. Commerzbank has sold its 17th Swiss franc deal of the year with a Sfr12 million ($7.3 million) note, which matures December 20 2001. The issue date is December 21 2000. It pays a single final coupon of 11.5%. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) is issuing a Sfr10 million and a Sfr15 million trade December 28. Both mature December 27 2001. The Sfr10 million trade pays a single coupon of 9.35%; the Sfr15 million trade pays 11.25%. HypoVereinsbank has gone for a trade that has a full one-year tenor, issuing a Sfr10 million note, December 14, which matures Deceber 14 2001. It pays a 5.5% coupon. However redemption is either paid in cash or 14,457 shares of Civic Financial Services at a strike price of 691.7064.

Orix USA Corp will issue two ¥5 billion ($45.14 million) trades off its $3 billion Euro-MTN programme on December 21. Both are fixed rate and bring the number of trades issued by Orix USA to 14 this year, all in yen. One of the trades goes out to June 21 2000, the other matures a few weeks' later: July 18 2000. Liam Meehan, MTNs at Orix's Dublin office, explains that most of Orix's trades are dealt out of Tokyo and this explains why yen predominates. Meehan says: "We usually back out of currency transactions and swap into US dollar."

* Süddeutsche Bodencreditbank AG Amount: Eu100m Hypothekenpfandbrief series 308

* Volkswagen Financial Services NV Guarantor: Volkswagen Financial Services AG