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The Federal Reserve Bank of New York introduced measures this week designed to ease liquidity in the repo market in the period around Y2K. The turn of the year is traditionally a period of high borrowing rates, but with great concern about the potential lack of liquidity in the market as the millennium approaches, bankers fear that the pressures will be much greater than normal.

Building society turned bank Northern Rock Plc raised £600m from its first issue of mortgage backed securities this week, and lent new credibility to hopes that securitisation could at last be entering the mainstream of UK bank finance. The UK has produced a regular stream of mortgage securitisations since the late 1980s, but most of the deals have always come from new entrants to the market, including, in the last few years, sub-prime lenders.

The Republic of Portugal made a rare foray into the dollar market this week when it took advantage of the scarcity of European sovereign paper in the sector to launch a $1bn five year transaction. Despite what was widely regarded as punchy pricing the deal, lead managed by Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, performed well thanks to tightening swap spreads. Launched at 73bp over Treasuries on Tuesday, the deal was trading at 70bp-71bp over by yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.

The Republic of Portugal made a rare foray into the dollar market this week when it took advantage of the scarcity of European sovereign paper in the sector to launch a $1bn five year transaction. Despite what was widely regarded as punchy pricing the deal, lead managed by Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, performed well thanks to tightening swap spreads. Launched at 73bp over Treasuries on Tuesday, the deal was trading at 70bp-71bp over by yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.

Procter&Gamble pounced on an unexpected lack of corporate dollar bonds this week to launch a blow-out $1bn global offering of 10 year notes and confirm the return of demand for dollar assets.

Bayerische Hypotheken- und Vereinsbank fulfilled its promise of regular issuance under its Geldilux collateralised loan obligation programme this week, launching a Eu750m deal with a new structure designed to satisfy investors' craving for yield. HypoVereinsbank brought the first Guarantees of Euro-Loan Debt in Luxembourg transaction in February - the Eu2.22bn issue, jointly led by HVB and Goldman Sachs, was the first CLO in euros.

Building society turned bank Northern Rock Plc raised £600m from its first issue of mortgage backed securities this week, and lent new credibility to hopes that securitisation could at last be entering the mainstream of UK bank finance. The UK has produced a regular stream of mortgage securitisations since the late 1980s, but most of the deals have always come from new entrants to the market, including, in the last few years, sub-prime lenders.

Valtion asuntorahasto, the Housing Fund of Finland, brought its fourth securitisation of social housing loans this week. At Eu500m, Fennica 4 was the largest issue yet from the programme and the first to be denominated in euros from the outset. "The main objective of this deal was to widen the investor base for Fennica bonds," said Riita Salonen, Helsinki based head of capital markets at Leonia Corporate Bank, which lead managed the issue jointly with bookrunner Paribas.

n ABN Amro's mammoth mortgage deal, worth around Eu2.35bn, is expected to be launched next week. Unofficial price talk is 25bp to 27bp over Euribor for the five year tranche and 30bp to 32bp over for the 10 year fixed rate piece. Market participants said the deal would likely price at the outer ends of both ranges. n RMAC 1999 - NS2, the second non-conforming mortgage securitisation from the UK branch of GMAC's residential mortgage arm Residential Funding Corp, may emerge as early as next week through Barclays Capital.

Currency overlay is becoming increasingly popular with investors who need to manage foreign exchange risk.

Orix Corp of Japan will launch an innovative two-pronged assault on the international equity markets next week with a ¥35bn straight equity deal and a ¥35bn Euro-convertible offering. Global co-ordinators for the sale are Daiwa, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Warburg Dillon Read.

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, the country's largest shipping concern, this week completed the first stage of a future receivables securitisation that has been nearly two years in the making. Chase Securities placed $235m of five year notes privately with a single US institutional investor. The transaction forms part of a $300m securitisation programme mandated to Chase in November 1997. Cosco became the first Chinese entity to securitise future flows in August 1997, when BancBoston Securities launched a $300m deal backed by freight revenues from its US clients.