The top Euro-MTN houses gathered yesterday for the first time in any formal way for nearly two years. The International Primary Market Association (IPMA) MTN committee met with Tiina Lee, head of Euro-MTNs at Deutsche bank, in the chair. "The MTN committee has not met for two years and it was overdue for revisions," says Lee. "A lot of people have moved on since it last met and IPMA thought it was about time it was revamped." The committee discussed the EU withholding tax and its effect on the MTN market. The EU has said that any bonds issued after March 1 2001 will be liable to withholding tax. The MTN body considered whether it is necessary to extend that date for MTN trades so that the market can sort out the necessary documentation. Lee points out, however, that as the EU directive only applies to individual retail investors the impact should not be too great. A dealer who was at the meeting says the one problem that has yet to be resolved is whether fungible notes issued after March 1 would be exempt from grandfathering. The other topic on the MTN committee's agenda was the possibility of creating a centralized database of MTN documents. This would help dealers trading for issuers on a reverse enquiry basis and who do not have access to programme documents. The last time the body gathered to implement changes to market procedure was in November 1998, when Matt Carter, who headed Credit Suisse First Boston's MTN desk at the time, was the chairman. At that meeting a standardized pricing supplement was agreed on. Lee says that there is no need for the committee to meet on a regular basis. She feels it should only meet if there is something specific to discuss. The members of the committee are BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg.
February 09, 2001