Covered Bonds
-
Cato Baldvinsson, who has been head of group treasury at Danske Bank, will be retiring next July, and a new head has been appointed.
-
Fitch has launched a consultation on an exposure draft on counterparty criteria for covered bonds.
-
New rules effective 1 October that place an 85% loan-to-value limit on Swedish residential mortgages will strengthen the credit quality of covered bonds backed by Swedish home loans, according to Moody’s.
-
Fitch downgraded mortgage backed covered bonds issued by Anglo Irish Bank and Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank (AIMB) from AA+ to A yesterday (Tuesday), and kept the programmes on Rating Watch Negative. Meanwhile, Moody’s put several Irish banks on review for downgrade after taking the same action on the sovereign.
-
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken will today (Wednesday) price a Eu1bn seven year issue at the tight end of revised guidance after meeting with strong demand for the first Swedish euro benchmark since June. Meanwhile, Italy’s UBI Banca is gauging interest for a new issue, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has opened books for an Australian dollar debut, and a mandate for a debut off an innovative programme has been added to the deal pipeline.
-
-
Bank of England executive director Paul Fisher indicated in a speech last week that the Bank is unlikely to be swayed by lobbying for more support for the covered bond market, and distanced the UK central bank’s position from special treatment afforded the asset class by the European Central Bank.
-
Spain’s Unicaja will today (Tuesday) price a Eu750m five year cédulas hipotecarias issue, more than a marketed Eu500m minimum deal size, although syndicate bankers away from the leads said the deal had at times appeared to struggle. Issuance was otherwise restricted to a tap and floating rate note, although there are rumours of deals in the pipeline and CIBC has mandated for an Australian dollar debut.
-
UBS has hired a new covered bond analyst following the departure earlier this year of Michaela Seimen to Barclays Capital.
-
Italy’s UniCredit took advantage of a stabilisation of the euro-zone sovereign market to yesterday (Monday) launch a Eu1bn seven year covered bond issue before next week heading into an extended black-out period ahead of a merger of its Italian banking subsidiaries, the issuer told The Cover.
-
Moody’s upgraded Bradford & Bingley’s mortgage backed covered bonds from Aa2 to Aa1 on Friday, because of an upgrade of the bank’s senior unsecured debt on Tuesday.