Barclays issued a £1bn three year FRN today (Monday) to continue a run of tightening spreads and increasing orders in sterling, pricing inside peers’ recent trades to build a book of some £2.9bn, one of the biggest ever. Hamburger Sparkasse is expected to issue a Eu500m seven year tomorrow.

Barclays leads ABN Amro, Barclays, Commerzbank, Lloyds, Santander and Wells Fargo launched the three year floating rate note with guidance of the 28bp over three month Libor area this morning, before revising guidance to the 25bp area. The spread was later fixed at 23bp and the size at £1bn (Eu1.18bn), with the book closing at £2.9bn.

The deal comes after the Barclays held a self-led roadshow between Wednesday and Friday of last week.

Bankers said the book was the largest for a sterling covered bond since before the financial crisis, while the deal is the tightest sterling benchmark since May 2015.

“This is the tightest print in the recent flow of deals and the surprising thing is that books keep getting bigger as deals keep getting tighter, which is unusual in the sterling market,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads. “In a way it’s not odd, as Barclays is probably the best name in terms of having the most lines open and the most investors able to buy, in comparison to the other recent deals, and it’s a relatively rare issuer.”

“RBS’s deal was a refresher after many years out of the market, while Lloyds came much earlier in the year. But Barclays’ deal is still very impressive, as the book is clearly one of the largest we’ve seen post-crisis, and they could easily have done more than £1bn.”

The deal is the fourth sterling FRN from the UK this year, following a £1bn three year for Lloyds on 9 January, a £1bn three year for Santander UK on 27 April, and a £1.25bn three year for Royal Bank of Scotland last Tuesday.

The previous deals were priced at 32bp, 27bp, and 26bp, respectively, with each attracting a larger book than the last. RBS’s sterling deal last week, sold as part of a dual tranche offering alongside a Eu1.25bn deal, attracted £2.3bn of orders.

Barclays’ last benchmark covered bond was a £1bn (Eu1.18bn) three year FRN in January 2015.

Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa) announced a mandate this afternoon for a Eu500m no-grow seven year mortgage Pfandbrief. A syndicate banker at one of leads Commerzbank, DekaBank, DZ Bank, Erste and LBBW said the deal is expected to be launched tomorrow.

Hamburger Sparkasse returned to the covered bond market in February 2016 with its first benchmark in 10 years, a Eu500m six year.