The new BTp Valore arrives: seven years and loyalty premium at 0.8 per cent

On offer from 20 to 24 October will be the new edition of the BTp Valore, the now traditional government bond designed for families and small investors. The announcement came from the Ministry of the Economy on the day of the pending rating upgrade by Fitch.

In a context of all-too-quiet rates for the Italian debt, the Treasury once again opts for a relatively long duration in the context of retail offerings, seven years; but to calibrate yields and incentivise the loyalty of drawers, it constructs a three-level coupon scale, in a somewhat articulated replication of the usual step-up mechanism, usual for BTp Valore, which makes the yield increase with time.

The first step will last three years, while the next two will be two years. To complete the work, a loyalty premium of 0.8%, also in line with the bond's duration, is envisaged for the most patient investors. As always, this will be reserved for those who buy the BTp in the week of placement and hold it in their securities account until maturity. Once again, the coupon accrual will follow the quarterly rhythm introduced with this form of government bond to accentuate the idea of a sort of additional income produced by the retail bond. The calculators, as always, will be able to switch on from the Friday before the placement, when the Treasury will communicate the minimum guaranteed yields: which at the close of the offering may be confirmed or adjusted upwards, as happened, for example, in the last appointment in February. The operation will be managed by Intesa, Unicredit and BPm in the role of dealer and Mps and Banca Sella in that of co-dealer.

A little more than two years after its debut, the BTp Valore is by now a product well known to Italians, who over the past few editions have bought it hands down, accumulating 79.83 billion in almost 2.8 million contracts in an account that also includes the February edition labelled the "BTp Più". From there comes one of the most powerful engines for the ascent of the share of government bonds in the portfolios of domestic investors, who in June 2023, date of birth of the government bonds named after the Value, owned 11.8% of the national debt, while last June (latest Bankitalia data) they had reached 14.2%, with an increase that in absolute terms is worth 99.1 billion euro. An excellent performance for the Treasury, flanked by the surge of foreign investors (up to 33.6% from 26.9% in June 2023, with a leap of 263.6 billion) thanks to a demand for Italy on international markets that has made the gradual exit from the long phase of exceptional purchases of European debt by the ECB much easier.