Covered Bonds

The hectic pace of issuance in the covered bond market was maintained today (Tuesday), with three new deals following four yesterday, but issuers had to make do with smaller sizes and wider spreads.

Münchener Hypothekenbank achieved easily the tightest spread of four issues yesterday (Monday), selling a Eu1.25bn five year mortgage Pfandbrief at 8bp over mid-swaps, following guidance of the 9bp area.

A Eu1bn five year issue from OP Mortgage Bank was the most popular covered bond on offer yesterday (Monday), attracting Eu2bn of orders in less than half an hour.

Confident of investors’ appreciation of changes it has made to improve its credit profile, Swedbank Mortgage yesterday (Monday) at short notice launched a five year benchmark transaction without any deal-specific preparation, the issuer told The Cover.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos has become the fourth issuer to cancel a covered bond ratings contract with Standard & Poor’s since the rating agency finalised a new methodology in December. S&P on Friday withdrew the ratings of the Portuguese bank’s mortgage covered bonds after affirming them at AAA and assigning a negative outlook.

These charts and tables provide an overview of covered bond issuance from January-May 2010, breaking down total supply by country, currency, and maturity, and comparing this year's volumes with those of previous months and years.

These charts and tables provide an overview of all benchmark covered bond issuance from January-May 2010, breaking down total supply by country and maturity, and comparing this year's volumes with those of previous months and years.

The covered bond market had one of its busiest ever sessions this (Monday) morning, with four institutions making the most of an issuance window despite overall sentiment remaining fragile.

Bank of New Zealand is close to launching a debut covered bond off a NZ$3bn (Eu1.67bn) programme, which will be the first covered bond from New Zealand.

The primary covered bond market is expected to be very busy next week, with mandates for Münchener Hypothekenbank and OP Mortgage Bank announced this (Friday) morning said to be only the first of many due to emerge in the coming days. Meanwhile, France’s CM-CIC snuck out a deal today between a German public holiday yesterday and US non-farm payrolls today.