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The half year and Q3 2019 results of European insurance companies again (after the 2016 episode) revealed the volatile nature of the Solvency 2 framework. Several companies reported a sharp drop in the S2 margin and the ...
Insurers’ results reveal S2 headwinds, more to come
From Crédit Agricole CIB
The message behind Mario Draghi’s parting package will be as important going forward as the measures themselves, argues Crédit Agricole CIB Eurozone economist Louis Harreau. Here, he analyses their impact on bond markets, ...
ECB: The Handover of Power
From Crédit Agricole CIB
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg capped a busy 2019 with its inaugural Additional Tier 1 on 28 October, a €750m perpetual non-call 5.5 year issue launched at the market’s peak, helping the rare German supply achieve pricing ...
LBBW €750m AT1 debut hits high
Market
National Australia Bank on 18 November extended the Australian domestic Tier 2 curve with the first 12 year non-call seven issue, after having on 29 July sold the equal-largest US dollar Basel III Tier 2 tranche from an ...
ALAC: NAB goes large offshore, long at home
Q&As
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group issued the first bond from a UK financial institution aligned with the Social Bond Principles on 8 November, a €750m six year non-call five social bond with proceeds earmarked for SME ...
RBS pushes social agenda with €750m SME debut
Market
On 23 September, Generali reinforced its sustainability push by issuing the first green bond from a European insurer. The landmark trade was the finale to a liability management exercise that helped the Italian insurer ...
Generali hits targets with green first
Q&As
Generali became the first European insurer to issue a green bond on 23 September, a €750m 11 year Tier 2 deal launched in conjunction with a tender for €1bn-equivalent of outstanding subordinated debt, and the landmark ...
Generali green insurance first boosted by sub tender
Market
Zurich Insurance issued the longest ever senior bond from a European insurance company on 11 June, a EUR500m 20 year deal launched on the back of investors’ search for yield, whose impact was also felt in insurers’ ...
Zurich in senior record, insurers set to get funky
Market
2019 was going to be all about quantitative tightening, right? Wrong! QE is back on the agenda in a big way, with Christine Lagarde’s forthcoming arrival as new ECB president helping reboot the bond market rally. With ...
QE is dead! Long live QE!
Focus
Italian banks raised more from senior through to AT1 bonds in June and July than in the whole of 2018, as Europe-wide, national and issuer-specific positives combined to allow them the flexibility to issue at attractive ...
Italians hit the market while the sun shines
Market
Commerzbank launched its long-awaited debut AT1 on 2 July and attracted some $11bn of orders to the $1bn perpetual non-call April 2025 deal, with regulatory developments, the issuer’s credit story and market conditions ...
Inaugural Commerzbank $1bn AT1 worth the wait
Market
Cinemagoers could be forgiven for feeling a degree of fatigue in the face of Hollywood’s obsession with remakes, reboots and sequels, and financial market participants likewise. ...
APP: The Sequel
Editorial