KfW

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress that Europe's supranationals and agencies have made in their funding programmes by the mid-point of August.

Volumes are growing across the spectrum in the Scandinavian MTN markets, as issuers and bankers return from their summer holidays. Meanwhile, bankers are expecting Scandinavian investors to move further out along the credit curve in response to negative yields as dovish Nordic central bank tones could lead to a bullish Scandinavian market.

German agency KfW is “open to further business in [both] Singapore and Hong Kong dollars” as it looks to expand its recently updated green framework. Last week, the agency made its green bond debut in Hong Kong dollars, placing a two year private placement on August 2.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Sterling is set to play a bigger part in the socially responsible bond market as a result of incoming reforms that are putting the pressure on UK pension funds to focus on environmental, social or governance (ESG) factors in their investments, writes Burhan Khadbai.

Boris Johnson, the UK's new prime minister, has spent most of his first week in power making life difficult for his new chancellor. Announcing big investments in transport infrastructure, health and social care in his first speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Johnson is already racking up the bills.

Investors brushed off the coronation of a new pro-Brexit prime minister in the UK on Tuesday to pile into a KfW trade and set a new size record for the sterling SSA green bond market.

KfW picked banks on Monday for its first green bond in sterling since July 2015, as it increases the volume of its green bonds under its new framework.

A trio of supranational and agency names headed out into niche currencies this week, as other SSA names say non-core currencies will be their focus for the rest of the year.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) issued its 60th syndicated bond on Tuesday and signalled a “smooth” start to the second quarter of its 2019–20 financial year, as it printed an inflation-linked tap that was eight times oversubscribed.

KfW tapped its December 2025s for £300m on Monday, with the solid demand for the trade being seen as a good omen for the UK sovereign’s sterling linker tap expected this week.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress of Europe's supranationals and agencies as we enter the start of the third quarter.