National Australia Bank

Royal Bank of Canada priced its first bond issue of the year as Yankee borrowers made the most of good funding conditions in the run-up to US bank earnings season.

Yankee issuers stormed into the US dollar market to lock in record low levels of funding, despite this week’s turmoil in Washington, DC.

Trig, the London-listed renewable infrastructure investment firm, has signed a £500m loan with its margin linked to Sonia rather than Libor, as loans bankers try to encourage borrowers look at their loan documents soon to avoid bottlenecks next year.

Macquarie achieved a decade low print for a five year Australian dollar floater this week, as the lack of supply from financial issuers in 2020 has sent spreads grinding downwards.

Metropolitan Life landed a good price on its return to the Aussie dollar market on Thursday, thanks to tightening spreads and a scarcity of high rated financial paper.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced plans to explore the potential uses and implications of a central bank digital currency using distributed ledger technology. The RBA follows the Banque de France, which last year worked with Société Générale to settle a crypto covered bond — a product that offers a number of ways to deploy blockchain technology.

Greencoat Renewables, the Irish renewable infrastructure company, has signed a €200m term loan, as it looks to manage its longer duration leverage.

Woori Bank is preparing to make its Kangaroo bond debut, choosing the market to launch its first Covid-19 response bond.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank issued a A$500m ($362.2m) bond in Australia on Friday, as a lack of financial paper in the market drove investor demand.

Singapore’s DBS Bank ventured into the Kangaroo market on Wednesday in search of tier two debt. Though Australian dollar tier two volumes have remained stable year on year, there is a marked decline in offshore issuance so far in 2020.

International Finance Corp sold the first Kauri bond in more than two months on Thursday, while in the Kangaroo market a pair of European agencies tapped a pocket of demand further down the curve.

UBS raised A$2.75bn ($1.96bn) with a triple tranche senior unsecured deal through its Australian branch on Thursday, printing the largest ever Australian dollar bank deal for a foreign issuer.