Standard & Poor’s upgraded a covered bond programme of Norway’s Eiendomskreditt AS backed by commercial mortgages from AA to AA+ on Tuesday, on negative outlook, after applying recently-revised rating criteria.

DNB on Wednesday became the first commercial bank from the Nordic region to sell a green bond, issuing a Nkr1bn (Eu115m) five year deal whose proceeds are earmarked for financing renewable energy projects.

Danske and Swedbank this week hit a hectic Additional Tier 1 (AT1) market and Handelsbanken and Nykredit Realkredit mandated debuts in spite of some weakness in the hybrid asset class, while DNB today (Friday) stuck to its domestic market for its first AT1.

Danske Bank and DNB results announced this week were well received, although their figures and Swedish reporting this week confirmed the trend of the low interest rate environment affecting performance.

The Danish Ministry of Business & Growth has established a working group to quickly recommend how negative interest rates should be handled by the country’s mortgage lenders in the wake of a series of cuts by the Danish central bank.

Sweden’s banks emerged from blackout periods in style this week as Nordea Bank AB sold a Eu1bn 10 year senior unsecured transaction that attracted over Eu4bn of demand at a tight level yesterday (Thursday), and Swedbank today announced an inaugural Additional Tier 1 (AT1) transaction.