Covered Bonds

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) recent decision to cut primary market orders for the covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3) is part of a long term tapering strategy that it is set to continue, delegates at the IMN covered bond conference in London heard on Tuesday.

Primary activity is likely to improve after the Easter break but bankers are telling issuers that covered bond new issue premiums are ‘a small price to pay’ in the context of much larger senior unsecured new issue concessions.

Covered bond specialists are eager to find out whether the European Central Bank’s lower than expected participation in recent covered bond issues is part of a long term plan or is merely a short term reaction to other events.

Funding officials said green bonds had stimulated other sustainability work across their organisations at the Climate Bonds Initiative conference in London on Tuesday.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) was this week obliged to pay a generous new issue premium for its second euro benchmark of the year, reflecting weaker credit conditions, investor indigestion and its desire to issue in large size.

Investors are receiving a decent concession to buy new paper in the FIG market, and this has encouraged them to jump out of outstanding bonds, thus widening the curve further for new issuers. And covered bonds buyers are also gaining the upper hand, as the European Central bank pulls out.

Lloyds Bank issued its third covered bond of the year on Tuesday and its second in sterling, paying a fraction of the premium seen in the senior unsecured market, despite the large deal size.

Covered bond investors have “had enough of tight spreads" said a lead manager. as demonstrated on Tuesday by the contrasting fortunes of deals from Lansforsakringar Hypotek AB (LF Hyp) and Aareal Bank. At the same time, the European Central Bank continued to scale back its order.

Aareal Bank mandated leads for a six year Pfandbrief on Monday, amid evidence that the European Central Bank has started to cut back orders for the covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3).

Deutsche Hypo followed other German lenders into the UK market to price its first covered bond in sterling on Thursday. The deal was priced just 7bp inside where SEB issued an unsecured FRN on the same day.

PKO Bank Hipoteczny may not have attracted the most overall demand in Thursday’s packed issuance window, but its covered bond was notable for having the highest spread and strongest subscription ratio of the five deals in the market.

Lloyds issued its first euro covered bond in almost two years on Thursday, helping to assuage Brexit concerns by pricing the €1bn seven year with a positive spread to mid-swaps.