Covered Bonds

Aegon Bank has registered its soft bullet covered bond programme with the Dutch central bank and has published its base prospectus, suggesting it could be ready to mandate leads after posting results this week. Aegon follows NN Bank, which became the first Dutch bank to switch away from using conditional pass through (CPT) covered bonds, with Achmea Bank set to follow.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New Zealand subsidiary, ASB Finance, has mandated leads for the first Kiwi covered bond since January 2019. At the same time, Berlin Hyp has appointed lead managers for a 12 year mortgage Pfandbrief.

Crédit Agricole has promoted four staffers to fill vacant and newly created positions in its debt capital markets leadership team, including global head of financial institutions DCM and head of European corporate DCM.

Green covered bonds no longer have to be reinvented in the face of rising sustainability-linked issuance because banks are now safe in the knowledge that they comply with the EU’s Taxonomy of Sustainable Activities.

DNB Boligkreditt and Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) issued deals flat to their curves with strong demand this week, while Bawag brought the first Austrian transaction through mid-swaps in almost three years.

Covered bond spreads look well supported for the next few months, traders said this week. But concerns that the European Central Bank may begin tapering purchases just as the European Union ramps up issuance is causing some concern for the longer term.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) priced a €1bn 10 year Norwegian covered bond flat to fair value on Thursday with demand of more than €2bn, showing, once again, the effect of investor demand in an environment of unprecedented negative net supply.

DNB Boligkreditt issued a €1bn seven year covered bond at flat to fair value with strong demand on Wednesday, providing encouragement for Sparebank 1 Boligkreddit (Spabol) which mandated leads for a follow-on 10 year Norwegian covered bond.

Nationwide Building Society made a small piece of history in the covered bond market last week. The UK building society printed the first covered deal in euros from a UK bank since Brexit. It was also the issuer's first 20 year and the first covered bond in that maturity from anywhere outside the eurozone. Senior funding manager, Krishan Hirani, spoke to GlobalCapital about the genesis of the deal.

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.