Swiss Francs

First Abu Dhabi Bank issued a Sfr260m ($293m) six year bond this week, the first Swiss franc green bond from the Middle East.

Swiss franc bond investors are pursuing high quality issues, with Münchener Hypothekenbank harnessing this demand to price a tap of its green preferred senior bond 12bp through fair value this week.

Société Générale dropped into the Swiss market for the first time since last February to print a new bail-inable note on Friday.

After a near two year absence, Deutsche Bahn pulled into the Swiss franc market to issue 15 year debt with no new issue premium this week, landing inside its own euro curve.

Raiffeisen Schweiz kicked off its 2021 funding year with an opportunistic Swiss franc dual tranche bail-in bond on Wednesday, landing about 10bp tighter than where it debuted last October.

Foreign central bank action sparked arbitrage opportunities in Swiss francs to shrink in 2020, so investors took a more domestic approach. As foreign issuance dries up, so too do Swissie mandates for international desks. Frank Jackman reports.

The Swiss National Bank said it is “willing” to increase the scope of its foreign exchange interventions to keep the Swiss franc’s value down, despite the US Treasury labelling it a ‘currency manipulator’ this week.

Flughafen Zürich sold its first deal this week since it lost its double-A rating in July, finding the opportunity to price a Sfr200m bond at an “aggressive” level.

Münchener Hypothekenbank (MunHyp) made use of an impressive spread tightening in the Swiss franc market to follow up Pfandbriefbank’s monthly issue with an even tighter covered deal of its own.

Ford shrugged off its loss of investment grade status to return to the Swiss franc market this week after a 19 year absence to print a three year deal targeted at private bank investors.

Ford is set to pull into the Swiss franc bond market after a 19 year absence, having appointed a trio of banks to commence investor calls ahead of a potential deal.

French agency Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations finished its 2020 syndicated funding programme with a visit to the Swiss market this week, printing an extremely tight deal through the high quality domestic covered bond curve.