Struggling sovereigns could look to retail bond solution

The Borsa Italiana’s retail bond platform could offer a model to Spain

Spain and Portugal could go some way towards fulfilling their short-term funding needs by issuing domestic retail bonds, according to Julian Callow, European economist at Barclays Capital in London.

Both countries are currently included in the PIGS bracket of southern European countries faced with the undesirable cocktail of high levels of debt and low growth. Major funding needs remain this year for both countries and consecutive government bond issues in the two countries have seen yields incre