Intercontinental Exchange rejects EU debt inclusion in sovereign indexes

The bloc is treated as a supranational issuer, which the EU cites as a key reason why its borrowing costs are higher than those of European governments with similar ratings

Reclassifying the EU is thorny, with the bloc politically divided on many traditional hallmarks of sovereignty, including joint debt issuance itself.

Intercontinental Exchange rejected a proposal to include debt issued by the European Union in its government bond benchmarks, the latest blow to the bloc’s quest to attract a larger pool of investors.

The index provider and owner of the New York Stock Exchange said it wouldn’t alter its definition of a sovereign issuer, which would have allowed for the change. The decision follows a similar move by American finance firm MSCI in June.