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Ireland's First Active plc, the former First National Building Society recently converted to a bank, launched its third securitisation of Irish residential mortgages this week with a I£200m deal through Warburg Dillon Read. "As a bank, we no longer have to manage the ratio between share and deposit accounts that was a motive for securitising when we were a building society," said Tony Shanahan, deputy group managing director at First Active. "But securitisation allows us to free up capital and recycle the 25% liquidity we have to hold against our liabilities."

Fitch IBCA has downgraded several western banks due to concerns about their exposure to the Russian crisis. Others have been put on review with a negative outlook. Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz's individual rating which assesses how the bank would be viewed if it were independent and could not rely on external support, has been downgraded from B/C to C in light of the bank's exposure to Russia and its low capital base. However, its triple-A long term rating was confirmed at AAA thanks to the state guarantee mechanism.

Sanwa Bank will next week launch a ¥75bn ($556m) collateralised loan obligation, which breaks with the standard pattern for Japanese CLOs by securitising loans to Japanese corporates, and by primarily targeting Japanese investors. Cayman Islands special purpose vehicle Delphi Ltd will issue five series of Eurobonds, all maturing as bullets in March 2001. Lead manager Sanwa International will sell the ¥29.5bn class 'A1' floating rate notes to international investors with a rating of Aa1 from Moody's.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is poised to kick start Korea's stalled privatisation process with a sale of Korea Telecom shares that could raise around $600m. The move comes almost a year after a collapse of confidence in Korea stalled KT's last attempt at a global IPO. Both the company and the government are keen to complete the sale before the end of October and bankers said a research blackout will begin next Thursday, while filing with the SEC should be on September 27. Rival bankers said the sale might struggle in the face of continued market volatility.

The Republic of Argentina is hoping to put together an emergency funding cushion far greater than the $4.5bn the World Bank and other multilateral banks have reportedly pledged this week, and aims to have enough to cover all $11.5bn worth of 1999 amortisations. "There is a possibility of extending" the amount the World Bank and the other multilaterals have apparently offered, said Federico Molina, managing director of Argentina's national bureau of public credit.

VODAFONE Plc, the UK mobile telecoms group, is back in the international syndicated loan market with a £300m facility, arranged by Barclays, HSBC and National Australia Bank. The 3-1/2 year facility carries a margin of 25bp over Libor - the same level it paid in March when it mandated Barclays and Union Bank of Switzerland to arrange a Dfl 1.2bn five year revolving credit.

International placement agents Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Robert Fleming this week committed to underwrite the sale of stock in Bank Leumi by subscribing to 75% of the shares on offer, worth $80m. The three firms have been selling the bank's shares to international investors before a pre-commitment which will fix the minimum price payable for the shares.

Global co-ordinators Deutsche Bank and BBL have launched the sale of shares in Belgian mobile telephone operator Mobistar. "The appetite for telephony stocks has not run out of steam," argued one sector analyst. "Before the correction in global markets, this was still the hottest sector to be and now it also gives potential buyers a feeling of safety, especially if the operator is in a safe market."

* Global co-ordinators, ABN Amro and Goldman Sachs are to price the Dfl 4bn sale of stock and convertible bonds for Dutch supermarket group, Ahold next week. Bankers from just about every firm in London and the Netherlands are waiting on the deal which could prove a strong test of investor sentiment towards corporate equity. Momentum in both the stock and the convertible book is building faster than in any other deal in the market.

The Swiss government has moved into the final stage of its privatisation of shares in Swisscom AG. The Swiss authorities revealed this week its intention to sell just 30% of the national operator, and at a conservative valuation range. The government's decision to proceed with a smaller than expected divestment at a more generous price is the first concrete sign that even safe haven stocks from traditionally safe-haven markets are vulnerable to the upheaval in world stockmarkets.

At a time when bank shares throughout the world's stockmarkets have suffered biting corrections, international investment banks are attempting to sell a record number of bank and financial sector shares to equity investors. The principal deals on offer include the Italian government's sale of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) through BNL, Mediobanca and Schroders; Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance (CNP) through ABN Amro Rothschild and CDC Marchés, and Fortis via Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and MeesPierson.

Undaunted by the current turmoil in international stockmarkets and past failures, the Greek government is set to press ahead with its privatisation programme. The government this week revealed details of its planned issue of privatisation convertible bonds, dubbed 'Balladur Bonds' after the French example of 1992.