Euroclear France today announced that Italian issuers can issue their commercial paper via the French CSD’s Negotiable European Commercial Paper (NEU CP) service. In an industry first, UniCredit became the first issuer to use the new service.
Negotiable European Commercial Paper is a short-term debt instrument issued by companies to raise funds, whose regulatory compliance is verified by France’s Central Bank, the Banque de France. As of the end of February 2023, there was EUR 320.9 billion of outstanding NEU CP and medium-term notes – the second largest short-term market in Europe.
Through Euroclear France, Italian issuers will now be able to diversify their sources of funding, multicurrency, and benefit from a reduction of costs due to the access of the sizeable NEU CP short-term market and its network of investors.
BNP Paribas’s Securities Services provided tax services for Euroclear France in the Italian market related to these issuances.
Guillaume Eliet, Chief Executive Officer, Euroclear France, commented:
“We are extremely proud to achieve this milestone and applaud UniCredit as our first issuer. By offering this new service to Italian issuers, it reinforces our market position as a Pan-European issuer CSD for the global issuer community. We look forward to continuous cooperation with the Banque de France, as we jointly support the developing NEU CP market.”