Banks Spurn Europe Bond Rush Amid Central Bank Loan Largesse
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Banks exempted themselves from this year’s booming market for European bond sales, raising the lowest amount ever in euros from debt investors in favor of cheap loans from the European Central Bank.
Financial institutions issued 120 billion euros ($156 billion) of senior unsecured bonds this year, down from 122 billion euros in 2011 and on track for the least since the euro began, Societe Generale SA data show. That compares with the 81 percent jump to 237 billion euros raised by non-financial companies this year, making it the busiest since the record set in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.