Covered Bonds

European bank funding plans do not account for the redemption of about a quarter of the €740bn they borrowed from the European Central Bank through the targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO II), according to a report published by the European Banking Authority this week.

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (VDP) has introduced minimum standards for issuing green Pfandbriefe, a development that should help seal Germany’s position as a leading jurisdiction for green covered bond issuance.

Europe's bond market reopened for the autumn issuance season this week — but it is a new bond market. The summer's queasy bout of bearishness has pushed government bond yields to unprecedented lows and these are now for the first time being tested as a platform for private sector bond issuance.

Berlin Hyp, the German mortgage bank, this week set a new record with the most negative yielding covered bond, a transaction that should bolster the confidence of other borrowers who can no longer put off issuing such deals.

Canada's Equitable Bank has announced plans to issue its first covered bond, possibly as early as next year. Its decision follows an increase in Canada’s regulatory issuance limit and paves the way for several other smaller Canadian banks to follow suit.

HSBC Bank Canada is set to meet investors with a view to issuing the first dollar covered bond since the summer break and its second covered bond ever. The plans comes amid a growing euro pipeline and follows the first deeply negative yielding euro trade.

Virgin Money plc has mandated leads for a European roadshow and hopes to issue its first euro denominated covered bond. The transaction is set to emerge at a challenging time, amid rising concerns that the UK will chaotically leave the European Union without reaching an exit agreement at the end of October.

BerlinHyp (BHH) reopened the covered bond market after the summer break with a €1bn three year that yielded almost 20bp less than the European Central Bank’s deposit rate. The transaction could cause some issuers to reconsider their funding approach as the deal can profitably refinance liquidity borrowed under the last Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operation (TLTRO II).

ASB Finance Limited has announced plans to sell either a covered bond or a senior bond next month, as FIG bankers suggested that issuers would be careful about restarting supply following a volatile summer period.

The Covered Bond Awards 2019 poll closes today and with only a few votes splitting the top contenders for several award categories, its not too late to make a difference.

Yields continued to tumble in the Swiss franc bond market this week with Pfandbriefbank issuing the first 30 year covered bond to be sold with a negative yield, following Münchener Hypothekenbank (MünHyp) striking a new record low for covered bond yields with a nine year trade.

Sparebanken Vest (SparVest) on Thursday became the fourth Norwegian bank to publish a green bond framework and one of the first to publish a framework that is aligned with the European Union’s proposed standards for green bonds.