Covered Bonds

Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) has mandated leads for a roadshow ahead of a planned €500m Blue Social Pfandbrief that will finance public water and waste management facilities, to be issued under the bank’s existing social bond framework.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was quick to take advantage of a favourable swing in the sterling-dollar basis swap, to issue its debut Sonia-linked covered bond on Monday, pricing the deal flat to fair value and tighter than where it could have printed in dollars or euros. The scale of demand would have allowed for a much larger deal, suggesting good potential for follow-on supply.

The increasingly obvious threat of climate change is leading central banks into new territory, as they begin to analyse the risks it poses to the financial system. It is stretching them intellectually and posing new questions about how they interpret their mandates, and whether they can lead society or must travel at its pace.

The recent bond market sell-off has provided an opportune window for issuers to bring positive yielding deals, boosting demand for SSAs and covered bonds. It’s difficult to imagine this move will prove anything other than temporary, suggesting hesitant issuers should seize the opportunity before it disappears.

Argenta Spaarbank’s trade this week was a warning to smaller banks about the importance of good pricing and roadshows in selling bonds. But even for those issuers willing to heed those lessons, it may already be too late to issue debt, writes David Freitas.

ING Poland has issued its first covered bond, a deal secured on green assets denominated in zloty. The issuer plans to return early next year with its first euro denominated green covered bond in benchmark size, said chief executive Boda Miroslaw,

NordLB Luxembourg Covered Bond Bank has mandated joint leads for a roadshow to market the first renewable energy covered bond to be issued under the country’s new lettres de gage énergies renouvelables legal framework. A trade is expected to follow soon.

Three covered bond issuers took advantage of a rise in yields, following what seemed a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations, to issue transactions that would not have been well received two weeks ago. Banca Popolare dell’Alto Adige’s debut and Sparkasse Hannover’s sub-benchmark deals delivered positive returns, while demand for a slightly negative-yielding benchmark from Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt was boosted by its green credentials.

Nationwide Building Society announced a consent solicitation on Wednesday with plans to convert two floating rate covered bonds to pay coupons based on Sonia rather than Libor, and is considering doing the same on all of its Libor-based bonds. The UK issuer followed Lloyds, which won plaudits from Moody’s for undertaking a similar exercise on a covered bond earlier this month.

Covered bonds issued in October have had a distinctly mixed reception — as depicted by the wide dispersion of scores on GC Covered Bond Marker. Bankers say the outlook is complex as investors are more cautious and it’s not fully clear how the European Central Bank’s (ECB) deposit tiering will really play out in conjunction with its asset purchases, its Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO) and negative interest rates.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to introduce tiered deposit rates means that €800bn of cash held at the central bank will pay a higher interest rate than most covered bonds. This is not bad news for spreads — it just sounds like it is.

The European Central Bank’s decision to introduce deposit tiering should have meant less demand for negative yielding covered bonds. However, there has been little evidence of sustained selling and bank analysts are optimistic that demand will hold up.