Covered Bonds

Austria’s Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederoesterreich-Wien (RLB NW) sold its inaugural benchmark covered bond on Tuesday, building a four times oversubscribed book for a 10 year mortgage backed trade.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group returned to the dollar covered bond market on Tuesday, attracting several new accounts in its first dollar deal since opening the market for Australia at the end of 2011.

Münchener Hypothekenbank on Monday launched one of the tightest euro benchmarks ever sold and took covered bonds into sub-Euribor territory for the first time in over four years.

The French Ministry of Economy and Finance released a press release on Saturday evening saying that it would guarantee the debt of Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France (3CIF) and its subsidiary CIF Euromortgage, subject to approval from the European Union and the French Parliament.

UniCredit’s German arm HypoVereinsbank (HVB) returned to the covered bond market for the first time in almost a year on Monday. HVB extended its curve by seven years with a 10 year mortgage Pfandbrief, and divided syndicate bankers with its pricing.

The French government has been forced to guarantee the debt of Credit Immobilier de France after it failed to find a buyer for the mortgage provider.

Simon White, Lloyds Banking Group’s head of senior and covered bond issuance, is to retire at the end of August after 33 years in the City.

Deutsche Bank brought the covered bond market to the brink of sub-Euribor pricing on Friday, issuing a €750m eight year mortgage Pfandbrief just a single basis point above mid-swaps. With the secondary squeeze grinding onwards syndicate bankers said it was only a matter of time until the Euribor barrier was broken.

Crédit Agricole CIB has been mandated to conduct a roadshow for a deal from Crédit Agricole Public Sector SCF’s new €10bn Obligations Foncières (OF) programme. Standard and Poor’s said the issuer is likely to bring a €1bn deal in September.

National Australia Bank sold a barely oversubscribed 14 year sterling covered bond on Wednesday, in a failed attempt to emulate the success of competitor Commonwealth Bank of Australia. CBA had sold a well oversubscribed benchmark in the same maturity just six days earlier.

OTP Mortgage Bank on Thursday launched the first euro covered bond from Hungary since November 2011, uncovering enough demand to increase a short dated floating rate trade.

The covered bond pipeline is steadily building with as many as five issuers preparing to pounce on the market once investors return from their summer breaks.