Alliance & Leicester has sold only the second mortgage-backed bond out of the UK since the credit turmoil struck. But while the deal offers a small ray of hope to troubled lenders, it does not presage a market recovery.

The £400m ($746m) A&L bond sale follows a £500m deal from HBOS that was sold in May. The HBOS sale is the only other UK sale and one of only a handful of European deals to have taken place since securitisation markets were pummelled by the fallout from the US subprime crisis –