UK

Société Générale has become the latest big name bank to pull back from a government’s bond business, after it resigned as a Gilt-edged market maker for the UK Debt Management Office on Friday.

Principality Building Society priced its Friary No.3 prime UK RMBS deal, landing £475m in what one banker called a ‘tricky’ market. As with sterling covered bonds, the RMBS primary market also seems to be pricing at successively wider levels.

UK Asset Resolution, the UK government’s holding company that has owned the mortgage book of Bradford and Bingley (B&B) since its nationalisation in September 2008, has announced a tender offer and early redemption of the issuer’s covered bonds.

The retail sale of Lloyds Bank shares will be delayed, rather than held this spring as planned, UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said today.

UBS has asked Markit to administer and calculate its investible indices, as the bank looks to meet Europe’s regulatory push to improve transparency and oversight of industry benchmarks.

Ascential, the information and events business formerly known as Top Right Group and Emap, on Thursday started building the book for a London IPO that could give it a market capitalisation of up to £880m.

UK Asset Resolution, the UK government’s holding company that owns the mortgage book of Bradford and Bingley (B&B) following its nationalisation in September 2008, has announced a tender offer and early redemption of the issuer’s covered bonds.

DebtXplained, the leveraged finance covenant specialist, has hired a senior banker from Lloyds — and says that more recruitment of capital markets bankers is to come.

Shareholders of National Australia Bank, the owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group, have voted to separate NAB and CYBG as a final nudge for the UK institution before it is due to float early next week.

Banks have raised concerns with the UK Debt Management Office over the impact that increased regulation is having on their ability to make markets, adding to a crescendo of concern about liquidity provision in government bond markets worldwide.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced £3.6bn of extra costs related to litigation and pensions on Wednesday, which will take the part-nationalised lender to a full year loss.

Another week, another dearth of primary issuance in the European corporate bond market.