Nordic Investment Bank NIB

Longer than normal floating rate notes and currency plays could provide a large part of the private placement landscape over the coming months, funding officials and dealers said this week, in the wake of the European Central Bank’s decision to lower interest rates.

This week's scorecard features Scandinavian supranationals and agencies, with Nordic Investment Bank completing over half of its funding for the year and Kommunalbanken edging towards the halfway mark.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

The dollar market went from strength to strength this week, with a trio of issuers gliding seemingly effortlessly through tightly priced deals. While this may signal to other SSAs that it’s time for some aggressive pricing of their own, things might not be that simple.

World Bank is set to become the third SSA to tap the dollar benchmark market this week, announcing a four year deal on Wednesday. Nordic Investment Bank completed a dollar benchmark of its own the same afternoon, cruising through the deal despite a skinny spread over swaps.

Kommuninvest mandated for its first dollar benchmark since October 2013 on Monday, a three year deal. Several other Scandinavian issuers are looking at dollar deals according to syndicate bankers, including the Nordic Investment Bank and Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK).

This week's scorecard features Scandinavian agencies, with Kommunalbanken and Municipality Finance getting their funding programmes off to a strong start over January. Next week's scorecard will provide updates on CEE sovereigns' funding.

The World Bank mandated banks for a new five year Kangaroo bond on Tuesday, following the sale of a Kauri deal in the same maturity from the Nordic Investment Bank. NIB enjoyed strong demand for the New Zealand dollar paper, owing to a combination of strong central bank buying and a domestic investor base starved of other opportunities for investment.

A pair of supranationals are set to launch Kangaroo deals in the middle of the curve this week, following a new five year deal in the format from KfW that is set to be priced on Wednesday.

This week's scorecard features Scandinavian agencies. Most of the issuers have completed their funding targets for the year, though Kommunalbanken, Municipality Finance and Swedish Export Credit Corporation have all expressed interest in prefunding for 2014.

The Nordic Investment Bank’s growing use of long term Kangaroos showed no signs of slowing on Tuesday, as the issuer tapped a 10 year Australian dollar bond and outlined its intent to be a fixture in the market next year.

Nordic Investment Bank expects to sell higher volumes of deals in Australian dollars and New Zealand dollars in 2014 as central banks show increasing interest in buying in the currencies.