Jyske Bank and BRFkredit are planning to merge, they announced on Monday, in a move that will step up competition in the Danish banking industry, with the potential for steep growth in mortgage lending for the combined entity and a tightening of BRFkredit bond spreads among effects cited.

Denmark’s Jyske Bank sold its first senior unsecured bond in the public markets since May 2011 on Tuesday, a Eu500m two-and-a-half year floating rate note that completes the Danish bank’s prefunding of redemptions due in 2013.

The Covered Bond Report’s Neil Day spoke to Merete Poller Novak, head of strategic funding and debt investor relations at Jyske Bank, about the bank’s funding strategy and developments in the Danish banking industry.

Nykredit found stronger than expected demand for three year bonds on the first day of the Danish auction season on Wednesday.