Covered Bonds

Hamburger Sparkasse AG (Haspa) and Hypo Tirol Bank have respectively mandated leads for a roadshow and an investor call update.

Kookmin Bank issued a $500m five year on Thursday, attracting a comfortably oversubscribed and well distributed book for its second legislative deal, which was priced at the same spread as the issuer’s first, despite a challenging market environment.

The European Central Bank has said efforts to raise minimum standards in the covered bond market should be ambitious, and it sees considerable benefits in harmonisation. The ECB was responding the European Commission’s proposals for harmonisation of the covered bond market.

Principality Building Society priced its Friary No.3 prime UK RMBS deal, landing £475m in what one banker called a ‘tricky’ market. As with sterling covered bonds, the RMBS primary market also seems to be pricing at successively wider levels.

South Korea’s Kookmin Bank issued its second ever covered bond this week, raising $500m from a five year note that was more or less a replica of its debut transaction.

AIB Mortgage Bank attracted robust demand for its €1bn seven year covered bond issued on Thursday, and WL Bank also did well despite the difficult 10 year tenor and measly spread.

UK Asset Resolution, the UK government’s holding company that has owned the mortgage book of Bradford and Bingley (B&B) since its nationalisation in September 2008, has announced a tender offer and early redemption of the issuer’s covered bonds.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) funded itself more cheaply with a 15 year covered bond than it did with a five year this week. It followed Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) which issued at the same spread as earlier deals despite a market widening.

AIB Mortgage Bank attracted robust demand for its seven year covered bond, the first deal from Ireland this year. The transaction benefitted from a very attractive spread to the government curve compared with deals issued by Spanish and Italian banks, and the return of demand from asset managers.

Kookmin Bank was set to open books for its second dollar-denominated legislative covered bond on Thursday.

UK Asset Resolution, the UK government’s holding company that owns the mortgage book of Bradford and Bingley (B&B) following its nationalisation in September 2008, has announced a tender offer and early redemption of the issuer’s covered bonds.

South Korea’s Kookmin Bank is looking to price its second covered bond on Thursday, while HNA Group is out to tap its existing dollar notes that were issued two months ago.