Achmea, Arkéa and Tatra banka pulled off successful trades today (Wednesday), with an anticipated easing in supply seen as having contributed to better demand and pricing dynamics this week, and only one, CBPP3-ineligible mandate has been officially announced – a UK reopener for Lloyds.

Today’s three deals took year-to-date euro benchmark supply above €38bn, but syndicate bankers expect the pace of issuance to slacken.

While blackout periods might have been expected to contribute to a greater slowdown already, bankers said CBPP3-eligible issuers’ “angst” regarding a potential cut in Eurosystem orders from 20% had contributed to the rash of deals this week. Although Deutsche Bank used T+3 settlement last June to nip in before a potential cut in CBPP3 orders, today was generally considered the last day to do so before February settlements risk smaller Eurosystem participation.

The only euro benchmark officially in the pipeline for the coming days is for the UK’s Lloyds Bank (see below for further details) and some bankers said the easing of supply pressure has contributed to successful euro benchmark execution this week.

“Things are looking a bit more receptive these days than they did perhaps 10 days ago,” said one. “It feels easier to handle trades, with books moving a little bit more dynamically, meaning that recent trades got away with slightly reduced concessions.”

This sentiment was borne out by a €500m seven year trade from the Netherlands’ Achmea Bank.

Following a mandate announcement yesterday (Tuesday), leads ABN Amro, Deutsche, DZ, MUFG, Rabobank and UniCredit opened books this morning with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 32bp area for the €500m no-grow January 2030 issue, expected rating AAA (S&P). After around an hour and a half, they reported books above €700m, including €25m of joint lead manager interest, then after close to two-and-a-half hours, they set the spread at 29bp on the back of books above €1bn. The final order book was above €1.3bn, excluding JLM interest.

A banker said the execution and outcome compared favourably to a €500m no-grow seven year for NIBC on Tuesday of last week (17 January), which was priced in the middle of initial guidance on the back of books above €625m and ultimately achieved a final book above €765m. NIBC’s spread of 28bp implied a new issue premium of some 10bp, while a lead banker put Achmea’s at 7bp.

“Good things come to those who wait,” he said.

Achmea’s seven year comes after BNP Paribas Home Loan SFH was able to achieve a strong outcome in the maturity yesterday, with its first euro benchmark since February 2017. The French deal attracted some €2.7bn of demand, allowing for tightening of 5bp to a re-offer of 22bp for a €1bn size and new issue premium of around 2bp.

Arkéa Home Loans SFH hit the market this morning and leads ABN Amro, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, DekaBank, DZ and Nykredit went out with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 32bp area for the March 2027 euro benchmark, expected ratings Aaa/AAA (Moody’s/Fitch). After around an hour and 50 minutes, they reported books above €1bn, including €40m of JLM interest, and around an hour later they set the size at €750m and spread at 19bp on the back of books above €1.4bn.

The long four year transaction represents a quick return for Arkéa after its public sector SCF issuer sold a €500m seven year on 2 January at mid-swaps plus 29bp, while Arkéa Home Loans SFH itself issued a €500m straight four year (December 2026) deal on 30 November at mid-swaps plus 15bp.

A lead banker said the long four year maturity differentiated the new issue from last year’s trade a little and would have made sense from an ALM perspective, and was well received by investors.

“People do like the short stuff,” he said, “and don’t really care if it’s broken dates or not.”

The December 2026 paper was seen at around plus 14.5bp and the lead banker put the new issue premium at around 4bp, which he said was broadly in line with prevailing levels in that part of the curve.

“There was some spread sensitivity,” he added, “but while some left the book when we set the pricing, some joined, so on aggregate it was pretty much the same after the last update and the final book.”

Slovakia’s Tatra banka today followed in the footsteps of compatriot Slovenska sporitelna on Monday by issuing a €500m three year covered bond – Tatra’s first benchmark. It sold its first sub-benchmark, a €250m seven year, in June 2019.

Following a mandate announcement yesterday, leads Commerzbank, ING, LBBW and parent RBI opened books for the €500m no-grow January 2026 issue, expected rating Aaa, with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 50bp area. After a little over an hour and a half, they reported books above €500m, excluding JLM interest, and around an hour later, they set the spread at 48bp on the back of books above €650m. The final order book was €700m.

Slovenska sportielna’s €500m three year came at 33bp and a new issue premium of around 17bp, and a lead banker said Tatra achieved a new issue premium of around 10bp, even if it was difficult to calculate fair value.

“We had quite a lot of discussions with investors upfront, which was very important to get the right spread, and we got some feedback that a 5 handle should be in front of the issue,” he said. “The shadow book then made us confident to go ahead with the eye-opening 50bp area guidance, and we got demand from investors early on, without much price sensitivity, so were able to tighten 2bp.

“The outcome was well received by the issuer and syndicate, and it’s a great transaction from Tatra and CEE.”

He said another day of marketing could have been beneficial, but that it was agreed that it was better to proceed today rather than risk a fall in the Eurosystem order tomorrow.

Lloyds Bank is due next in euros, with a three year, which is set to be the first euro benchmark from the UK since a €500m (£440m) long four year for Coventry Building Society that hit the market on 13 September, just ahead of UK market dislocations sparked by the short-lived government of Liz Truss – UK financial institutions have meanwhile enjoyed successful covered bond issuance in sterling since November.

ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, LBBW, Lloyds and Natixis have the mandate.