Covered Bonds

A widening in the basis swap between three and six month Euribor and a recent rise in yields have improved the attractiveness of covered bonds for a proportion of investors. But for many others, bonds that trade well through swaps in the secondary market are only fit for the European Central Bank.

Investors wasted little time placing orders for NIBC Bank’s €500m 10 year conditional pass-through covered bond that was issued on Wednesday, reflecting that it offered the highest spread of any covered bond issued this year by any bank in core Europe. This is also likely to be a very rarely issued structure.

Although UK covered bonds are trading at their tightest levels for the last year, they still offer a decent pick-up versus some international peers. With the UK’s vaccine rollout and growth expectations showing promise, spreads may well tighten. But there is a lack of fresh supply. Some is needed to improve price discovery and catalyse performance.

DZ Hyp raised €1bn of eight year covered bond funding flat to its curve on Tuesday in what bankers called a ‘textbook execution’.

Santander has lost a covered bond trader to Barclays, which itself is in the market for a covered bond analyst after losing two recently.

Covered bond spreads look set to tighten further over the next few months, traders told GlobalCapital on Monday. But even so, medium term macro-economic uncertainty is curtailing risk appetite as spread potential is limited and a market-wide sell-off may follow in the medium term.

DekaBank’s sub-benchmark Pfandbrief issued on Monday was more than three times subscribed and was priced through fair value, boding well for a follow-on Pfandbrief from DZ Hyp for launch on Tuesday.

Berlin Hyp will become the first bank to issue a sustainability-linked bond (SLB), after it announced plans on Friday for a deal with a coupon that will step up if the issuer fails reduce the carbon intensity of its loan book by 40% over the next 10 years.

Banks shouldn’t let conceptual considerations stand in the way of them issuing sustainability-linked bonds.

European banks face tough conceptual and regulatory barriers as they enter the market for sustainability-linked debt. But DCM bankers hope that they can find a simpler solution for issuers by focusing on covered bonds, write Tyler Davies and Bill Thornhill.

The European Central Bank's covered bond purchases remained weak in March and, with issuance expected to stay anaemic for the foreseeable future, it will struggle to prevent its portfolio from shrinking. While this is positive for spreads, returns this year have been abysmal and, in the absence of supply, investors are being squeezed out.

Citi has filled the covered bond and SSA research analyst spot that was vacated by Michael Spies when he moved to DCM. Meanwhile, Commerzbank has lost a research analyst.