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Barclays Capital this week launched a new Index Product Group and announced the creation of a new index, the Barclays Sterling Bond Index. The index incorporates a number of changes and improvements on its predecessor, the most notable of which are enhanced transparency and flexibility which will give investors the ability to tailor different components of the index to create their own benchmarks.

The Basle Committee on Banking Supervision this week published a new study that may pave the way for the use of internal bank ratings in the measurement of capital adequacy. Entitled 'Range of Practice in Banks' Internal Ratings Systems' the study may not sound a best seller but it could have important implications in the way that banks do business, and in maintaining a level playing field between European and US institutions. Seeking to update the 1998 Basle Capital Accord, the committee published a report last June which many felt lent heavily toward the use of external credit ratings as the language of any new capital adequacy framework.

The Kingdom of Belgium kicked off its 2000 funding programme this week with the launch of a hugely successful 10 year syndicated OLO via Deutsche, ING Barings BBL and JP Morgan, signalling its intent to provide the market with less frequent, but more liquid lines. To achieve greater focus on its issuance, the kingdom had already announced a change to its funding programme, cutting the number of auction dates from 12 to six and lowering the usual number of lines on offer at auctions from three to two.