Covered Bonds

United Overseas Bank and Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark (RFLBST) have mandated leads for covered bond deals amid a weakening spread environment.

Two recent studies have added to the growing body of research that points to a surge in green covered bond issuance following the implementation of the EU's Taxonomy of Sustainable Activities.

Bausparkasse Wuestenrot dropped into the MTN market in search of covered debt earlier this week, ahead of its forthcoming debut public senior deal.

Landshypotek Bank sold a trio of covered bonds in the MTN market this week, including its largest single tranche deal since April last year.

Tuesday's €750m 10 year covered bond from ASB Finance demonstrated commitment to the market according to the bank's Treasurer, Chandu Bhindi, who spoke to GlobalCapital about the deal on Thursday.

Triple-B credit OC Oerlikon achieved a remarkable result on Monday, said bankers, as it issued a Sfr575m three tranche deal, which it will use to fund its acquisition of INglass. It was joined on screens by Pfandbriefbank's smallest deal since 2019.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's New Zealand subsidiary ASB Finance issued its largest covered bond on Tuesday, the first 10 year from New Zealand and the first covered bond from the country since January 2019. The focus for this week’s transaction was all about re-engaging with investors, said ASB Bank treasurer, Chandu Bhindi.

Berlin Hyp and HVB took advantage of strong market conditions this week to issue to highly successful Pfandbriefe.

A draft regulatory technical standard (RTS) assessing risk weights and loss given default of mortgage risk, which the European Banking Authority has opened a consultation on, should give discretionary power to member states, said a lawyer on Thursday.

Pfandbriefbank Schweizerischer Hypothekarinstitute priced its smallest deal in 18 months this week, attracting several international accounts to a tightly priced Sfr350m ($385.8m) note.

GlobalCapital talked to Sarim Farooqi, senior vice-president and treasurer at Laurentian Bank, about the issuer’s recent C$250m five year debut covered bond, established under its new C$2bn covered bond programme, and what the bank’s next moves in the covered bond market could be.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary, HVB, enjoyed a stunning investor reception for its negative yielding eight year Pfandbrief that was issued on Wednesday, thanks to the lack of supply this year, the small but rare premium on offer and the superb market conditions.