Abbey National, the UK bank which recently sold Sfr850m (€558m) of Swiss franc-denominated asset-backed securities (ABS), is preparing to sell ABS denominated in euros, dollars and sterling worth more than £2bn (€3.25bn).

The total issue size, including the Swiss portion, will be roughly £2.7bn, making it the largest ever European mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issue - outstripping Abbey's own record set in July 2000.