Covered Bonds

Moody’s today (Tuesday) placed on review for downgrade covered bonds issued by OTP Jelzálogbank, rated Baa1, and those of FHB Mortgage Bank, rated Baa3, because of rating actions last Friday in which it placed the financial institutions supporting the bonds on review for possible downgrade.

Banca delle Marche has set up a Eu5bn covered bond programme, according to a rating release from Moody’s.

Fitch cut mortgage covered bonds issued by Caja Madrid from AAA to AA+ on Friday and noted that the rating of Cédulas TDA 14, which is under review, is heavily exposed to Caja Madrid’s cédulas hipotecarias.

Spain’s Bankinter will today (Monday) add Eu400m to a Eu1bn cédulas hipotecarias issue first launched in March and will price the increase at a record high spread.

The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a markup for tomorrow (Tuesday) of an amended version of the United States Covered Bond Act of 2010. The new language is understood to take into account some concerns raised by Senators who in June rejected a proposed covered bond amendment in the Dodd-Frank Act, and appears to be designed to deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s opposition to key provisions of the bill.

Moody’s last Friday downgraded Asset Covered Securities issued by Depfa ACS Bank from Aa2 to Aa3 because of a downgrade in the issuer’s rating from A2 to A3.

Lettres de gage publiques issued by NordLB Covered Finance Bank have been rated by a second rating agency, with Fitch on Friday assigning them a AAA rating.

Standard & Poor’s has for the first time applied its revised rating methodology to a Swedish covered bond programme, on Friday affirming at AAA mortgage covered bonds issued by the Swedish Covered Bond Corporation.

Moody’s on Friday placed on review for possible downgrade the ratings of two Hungarian covered bond issuers because it had the day before placed the Baa1 government bond rating on review for possible downgrade

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.