Commerzbank has raised €5bn with the biggest government-guaranteed bond deal since the bank industry bail-outs, amid signs of tentative improvement in the debt markets.

The Commerzbank sale, the first guaranteed bond from a German issuer, came as BNP Paribas, the French bank, sold a €1.5bn covered bond deal and it emerged that BBVA, the Spanish bank, is planning a non-guaranteed bond sale.