Covered Bonds

The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a markup of the United States Covered Bond Act of 2010 for Tuesday (27 July).

Fitch yesterday (Thursday) placed Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa’s rating of A+ on Rating Watch Negative because of the announced acquisition the assets and liabilities of CajaSur, which was taken over by the Fund For Orderly Bank Restructuring at the behest of the Bank of Spain in May.

EuroWeek cartoonist Olly Copplestone’s take on Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria’s eye-catching offering.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday (Thursday) downgraded mortgage covered bonds issued by Banco BPI by four notches, from AAA to A+.

Fitch yesterday (Thursday) downgraded Caja Madrid’s rating from A+ to A, on negative outlook, because of revenue pressure and a decline in asset quality.

Toronto-Dominion launched a $2bn five year inaugural covered bond yesterday (Thursday), becoming the fifth Canadian bank to tap the dollar market with a covered bond this year. Compagnie de Financement Foncier today launched the fourth euro tap of the week, increasing its recent 15 year deal by Eu450m.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria priced the first benchmark bond for a Spanish bank in three months on Monday, selling a Eu2bn three year covered bond on the back of improved sentiment for Spanish debt and a record re-offer spread.

Fitch downgraded five Portuguese banks, including Banco Comercial Português, Banco Espírito Santo and Banco BPI yesterday (Thursday), because it considers them to have limited funding sources and a reduced ability to raise medium term funding.

Moody’s yesterday (Wednesday) cut Ireland’s EBS Building Society from A2 to A3, on stable outlook, after having on Monday downgraded the sovereign by one notch.

Standard & Poor’s has, under its revised rating methodology, downgraded covered bonds issued by Bradford & Bingley from AAA to AA, on stable outlook, because of a high proportion of buy-to-let loans in the cover pool.

Moody’s put all ratings of Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa on review for downgrade today (Wednesday) because of its proposed acquisition of Cajasur, which was taken over by Spain’s Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) in May.

Moody’s downgraded four Portuguese covered bond programmes yesterday (Tuesday) after last week cutting the ratings of their issuers on the back of a sovereign downgrade. Two remain on review for downgrade alongside three that have not yet been lowered.