Covered Bonds

Volksbank Wien has mandated leads for a roadshow to market its debut covered bond and BPCE has mandated leads for the second French covered bond of the week. Meanwhile, Moody’s has assigned ratings to the covered bonds of Caja Rural de Granada, which has yet to issue its first deal.

ING Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold 10 year strong covered bond deals on Monday, creating a "virtuous circle" that should encourage more issuers to enter the market, according to one lead manager. But another cautioned that demand for long dated bonds was "frothy".

TSB successfully issued its inaugural Sonia linked deal which, in contrast to the bank’s previous attempt that was blighted by political uncertainty, it attracted a comfortably oversubscribed order book. The successful outcome suggests the bank can now look ahead to a more normal year according to TSB treasurer, Alison Straszewski.

OP Mortgage Bank has issued the first Finnish covered bond of the year and did so at the same spread and in larger size than DZ Hyp managed little more than two weeks ago. With 10 year Bund yields heading towards zero, yield starved investors are chasing the market even tighter.

Robert Horat, managing director of the Zurich-based Pfandbriefbank schweizerischer Hypothekarinstitute, says he is mystified as to why the pooling model underpinning Swiss Pfandbriefe has not been used as a blueprint for covered bond markets elsewhere in Europe.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is well aware of the fact that €400bn borrowed under TLTRO II will no longer be counted as stable funding from June, so a new financing package is certain to be announced in the next month or two. But issuers waiting for a handout are going to be disappointed by what follows and will be obliged to tap capital markets, just as conditions deteriorate.

Sparebank 1 SMN is ready to become the first Norwegian issuer of senior unsecured debt that complies with the green bond principles. Other banks, after issuing green unsecured deals are expected to issue green covered bonds.

Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt opened books on the first covered bond of the week on Wednesday and managed to issue its largest ever deal with no new issue concession.

Covered bond new issue concessions and spreads have tightened considerably since the start of the year, but it is unsustainable, according to one major investor.

A sustained improvement in market conditions suggests issuers now have access to a broad mix of funding instruments and, in the wake of January’s extraordinarily heavy covered bond supply, issuance is likely to moderate.

SEB issued a seven year covered bond last week 9bp tighter than where DNB Boligkreditt was able to print at the start of this year, showing just how far spreads have rallied. Even though the market is still well supported, investors could soon become reluctant to chase the market even tighter.

Santander UK paid a modest new issue premium for its second Sonia-linked covered bond and the second five year Sonia linked of 2019.