Covered Bonds

Nordea managed to raise €1.5bn of seven year funding at 4bp over mid-swaps on Monday — the tightest spread of any covered bond issued this year, other than in Germany. But subscription ratios for core covered bonds are falling and some key investors are lowering their orders.

BPER Banca issued an exceptionally well subscribed Italian covered bond and, although it originally planned to issue a €500m no-grow, it took the unusual step of increasing the deal size to €600m "as a token gesture on behalf of the leads".

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European financial institution bond markets have been rallying this year as economic weakness raised expectations of renewed European Central Bank easing action. On Thursday, it delivered a new round of bank refinancing loans — sooner than thought, but reassuring nevertheless — presaging another move tighter in southern European credit. Bill Thornhill and Tyler Davies report.

UK banks have surfaced in the unsecured debt markets for the first time in about four months, buoyed by optimism about a series of crucial votes on Brexit in parliament next week. Experts suggest that the country’s financial institutions will have to get used to these sorts of narrow issuance windows, with the country yet to even start the most challenging stages of its exit from the European Union.

The final text of the net stable funding ratio has improved slightly compared to earlier versions, but the covered bond industry’s hopes for equal treatment relative to senior unsecured debt has fallen on deaf ears. The Council of Europe is expected to adopt the regulation from mid-March before putting it to a parliamentary vote in April.

Stadshypotek was able to tighten pricing by 4bp to land on top of fair value for a seven year covered bond on Wednesday, as financial institutions hit the market ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later in the week. It was joined in the euro market by the Mortgage Society of Finland (Suohyp), which was also selling a seven year deal.

Lars Jebjerg, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Danish Ship Finance, which is marketing its inaugural covered bond, talks to GlobalCapital about the bank’s distinctive business model, which has delivered stability amid the notorious volatility in underlying assets, which has sunk many lenders.

Jyske Realkredits sold a six year covered bond at a level that was flat to its existing curve on Tuesday, with an subscription ratio that was higher than any other Danish euro covered bond ever issued.

Greek covered bond issuers could be ready to return to the market this month, with banks expecting ratings upgrades following an upgrade for the sovereign last week. With the Hellenic Republic attracting strong demand for its 10 year on Tuesday, Greek issuers have the potential to extend their covered bond curves.

Jyske Realkredit has mandated leads for the first Danish covered bond of the year. The transaction joins the pipeline alongside two other sub-benchmark deals, this time from Finnish lenders.

Danish Ship Finance plans to go on the road before issuing its debut euro covered bond.