UniCredit Boosts Structured Note Sales to Highest in Five Years

UniCredit SpA (UCG) and Banco Santander SA (SAN) are boosting their share of the structured note market with the biggest Italian and Spanish lenders issuing the most securities since at least 2007.

UniCredit sold $2.69 billion of the securities through Nov. 16, making it the fourth-biggest global issuer this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Germany’s DZ Bank AG dominates the market with $15 billion of issuance, followed by Deutsche Bank AG at $4 billion and UBS AG with $3.1 billion, data show. Santander sold almost $577.9 million of notes, almost four times its total for last year.

UniCredit and Santander are lifting their share of a market that’s shrinking as investors shun the securities because low interest rates are hurting returns. Total issuance of $72 billion this year is the lowest since 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Silvia Lamberti, a spokeswoman for UniCredit in Vienna, declined to comment. Angela Roche Riesco, a Santander spokeswoman, also wouldn’t comment. The data exclude the U.S. and doesn’t count securities where the amount of principal repaid can vary.

UniCredit sold the fourth-largest structured note this year outside of the U.S., according to Bloomberg data. The 609.9 million euros ($777.3 million) of five-year securities, issued on July 13, pay an annual coupon of 5.1 percent for three years. After that time investors receive three times the three-month euro interbank offered rate, capped at 5 percent.

In the U.S., sales of the notes so far this year are at $34.4 billion, the least since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2010.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alastair Marsh in London at amarsh25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at parmstrong10@bloomberg.net