Covered Bonds

Foreign and domestic banks flocked to the UK this week as they sought to take advantage of stellar funding conditions in the sterling market. Bankers said this was the first chance issuers had to benefit from opportunities in the currency following December’s general election, which removed a lot of short-term uncertainty around Brexit.

The sterling bond market, usually buoyant enough at the start of a year, got a Brexit boost this week, allowing public sector borrowers and financial institutions to take full advantage. Investors piled into deals following greater clarity on the UK’s looming exit from the EU but before possible volatility around the January 31 departure date. Burhan Khadbai and David Freitas report.

Crédit Agricole Italia marketed a dual-tranche bond with eight year and 25 year maturities. A steeper curve helped the longer tranche offer a higher pickup against the shorter bond, but investors still placed hefty orders on both tenors.

Danske Mortgage Bank, Santander UK, Raiffeisenlandesbank Hypothekenpfandbrief and UniCredit Bank AG were marketing covered bonds on Wednesday, steering well clear of negative yields by tapping into healthy demand for long dated assets.

The Sonia-linked covered bond market is showing signs that it is 'maturing', with Commonwealth Bank of Australia launching a new deal in the format on Tuesday and Coventry Building Society looking to follow in the footsteps of two of its compatriots early in 2020.

Issuers rushed to open the euro covered bond market this week. Trades from ABN Amro, Erste Group and LBBW showed that investors are ready to put cash to work, but higher new issue premiums suggested that issuers were taking a 'conservative' approach at the beginning of the year.

Leeds Building Society opened books on Monday for its second Sonia-linked covered bond. The trade benefited from an ‘unparallelled’ level of demand, reaching almost four times its £600m size.

LBBW has picked banks to arrange the sale of a new euro covered bond as activity in the market gets off to a slower start than usual following the new year break.

Nationwide Building Society issued the first sterling covered bond of the year on Friday, without needing to pay any premium over the tight trading levels of its existing bonds.

Financial institutions could take longer than usual to return to the euro bond market at the start of 2020, with the early issuance window having been broken up by the holiday period.

The covered bond market will enter 2020 on the front foot, supported by a wave of favourable forces such as the European Central Bank’s Asset Purchase Programme and low interest rates.

Covered bonds performed well in 2019, but yields finished in negative territory and spreads ended at their tightest for the year. The implication is that, despite higher than expected ECB covered bond purchases and a renewal of its ultra-cheap TLTRO facility, investors will struggle to match 2019’s returns in 2020, writes Bill Thornhill.