Covered Bonds

The Pfandbrief market is in the middle of a tumultuous year which includes not only the adoption of the EU's Covered Bond Directive but also digesting the bloc's Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities. Of course, this is all happening against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, which have hit the commercial real estate market that underpins much of the product. Jens Tolckmitt, chief executive of the Association of German Pfandbriefbanks (vdp), spoke to GlobalCapital about how the market has coped.

Recent trades have demonstrated just how sublime primary market conditions are for covered bond issuers, stoking a revival of the previously dormant sector.

DNB Boligkreditt took advantage of strong market conditions to mandate leads for its second covered bond of the year on Tuesday.

Bawag became the first Austrian issuer to price a covered bond through mid-swaps since June 2018 on Tuesday when it issued a benchmark 10 year that attracted strong initial order momentum and an exceptionally granular order book. At the same time Austria’s Covered Bond Act consultation came to an end, suggesting the new legal framework will soon be enacted.

Kommunalkredit was the first name to throw its hat into what bankers are expecting could be a busy week in FIG primary markets next week. The Austrian lender is set to syndicate its senior deal as a private company next week, with a covered bond refinancing set to follow later this year.

“What gets measured gets managed,” goes an old saw popular in sustainable finance circles. If companies, investors and banks, the argument says, collect better environmental and social data, this knowledge will naturally breed improvements in performance.

Nationwide Building Society issued the first UK covered bond of the year, the first to test appetite since Brexit was concluded and the first UK deal with a 20 year tenor in euros. As such it offered a particularly rare opportunity to get some spread and yield pick-up.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) priced the tightest ultra-long dated Pfandbrief in 18 years this week, setting the record a day after Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) priced the tightest covered bond of the year and the tightest Pfandbrief since late 2018.

Laurentian Bank has wasted little time getting its newly set up covered bond programme a top rating with DBRS and is now undertaking a roadshow with plans to sell its first deal in Canadian dollars. It is also looking at subordinated issuance in local currency.

Crédit Mutuel Home Loan and Natixis Pfandbriefbank secured tight pricing for 10 year covered bonds on Wednesday, as borrowers made haste to access sublime issuance conditions in the euro market.

French and German banks have led the resurrection of the primary covered bond market over the last two weeks, with the sterling market particularly active. They have been making the most of good conditions for borrowers. So far this year, covered bond issuers have paid an average concession of 0.15bp compared to the 2.93bp they paid in 2020.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) issued its second ultra-long dated Pfandbrief of the year on Tuesday, flat to the curve and into good demand at the tightest spread for this tenor and longer in the past 18 years.