Denmark

Subordinated bond issuance could decline dramatically among Nordic banks following implementation the EU’s new bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD 2), Fitch said this week.

Smaller loan loss provisions and high capital ratios have helped Nordic lenders to kick off European bank earnings season in a positive fashion. But analysts are cautious about drawing any conclusions for the rest of the sector.

The UK electricity operator National Grid has raised a multi-export credit agency (ECA) covered loan, which also adheres to the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles.

France and Denmark have increased the size of their annual funding programmes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the former making the third upward revision to its borrowing needs in as many months.

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Guarantor: All Danish municipalities and regions

Four public sector borrowers hit the dollar market on Wednesday, including a rare seven year deal from new issuer International Development Association (IDA).

KommuneKredit has announced that it will begin purchases of two of its outstanding dollar bonds due to mature in 2021. At the same time, investors will be offered the chance to purchase new five year bonds.

Denmark has made public the mandate it had given earlier this year to three banks to help it prepare to issue the world’s most unusual green bond, as the work is getting to a more advanced stage. A political decision to issue might come towards the end of this year.

A supranational and a Nordic bank paid rare visits to the Swiss franc market this week. The North American Development Bank (NADB) printed its first deal in two years — its second green bond — while Nordea returned after a five year absence.

Nykredit tapped its 1% callable covered bond due 2050 on Wednesday to take it up to Dkr100bn (€13.4bn), making it the biggest long-dated covered bond ever publicly issued in Europe and highlighting the availability of long-dated funding for banks looking for alternatives to the glut of central bank liquidity made available to fight the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Euro area banks have increased their reliance on preferred senior funding during the coronavirus crisis, fuelling speculation that some lenders may be expecting a softening of their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).