New Schuldschein program

Press release from the Belgian Debt Agency

Press release from the Belgian Debt Agency

The Kingdom of Belgium recently launched a program of Schuldscheine.
It successfully placed an aggregated amount of nearly € 300 million of longer-dated Schuldscheine. 

A  Schuldschein is a privately negotiated bilateral loan -not a security- documented under German Law. It provides an advantageous accounting treatment for investors as there is no requirement for marking to market of the loan. Being a German product it mainly interests German buy-and-hold investors such as insurance companies and pension funds.

Schuldscheine are mostly contracted by German borrowers although non-German highly rated issuers are increasingly in demand.

Schuldscheine can be tailor-made and in exchange for these advantages, the interest rate is inside the OLO curve. This makes Schuldscheine attractive to the borrower as far as cost efficiency is concerned. Moreover it enhances the diversication of the investor base.

The Treasury does not aim at large amounts under this program, so that Schuldscheine do not endanger the liquidity of the OLO market.