Covered Bonds
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Government guaranteed issues from La Caixa and Raffeisen Zentralbank yesterday (Wednesday) were both priced tightly in terms of their premiums versus their respective sovereigns. But while this did not get in the way of the Austrian bank’s transaction, syndicate officials away from the Spanish deal have criticised the spread.
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Standard & Poor's yesterday (Wednesday) downgraded BNP Paribas’ rating from AA+ to AA, on negative outlook. The new rating is likely to remain until there are “clear signs that the worst is over”, said the agency.
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Proposed amendments to the Pfandbrief Act were met with approval during a hearing on the draft law on “the further development of Pfandbrief legislation” last Wednesday.
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Moody’s yesterday (Tuesday) upgraded Marfin Egnatia Bank’s rating to match that of its parent bank, Marfin Popular Bank.
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Only a few days after receiving approval for its Eu3bn covered bond programme, Principality Building Society yesterday (Tuesday) executed its first deal, a £700m (Eu753m) January 2010 bond.
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Activity in the euro government guaranteed bank debt market has picked up since Monday’s Swedbank issue, but only moderately. And despite an improvement in market sentiment, covered bond banks are keeping investors waiting for a follow-up to last week’s jumbo from Crédit Agricole.
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Moody’s yesterday (Tuesday) assigned a definitive Aa3 rating to the covered bond programme of UniCredit’s Hungarian arm, Jelzálogbank.
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n/a: These banks, or their predecessors, were ranked below the top 20 in 2007.
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Moody’s on Friday concluded its review of Dexia Municipal Agency's obligations foncières by affirming their Aaa rating, with greater transparency forthcoming from both the issuer and the rating agency.
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The German government is understood to have agreed to take a majority stake in Hypo Real Estate of 50% plus one share. The move underlines the government’s commitment to the Pfandbrief, and should help reinforce it, too, said covered bond analysts.
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Principality Building Society has set up a covered bond programme.
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The market got off to a relatively quiet start today (Monday), with only one issuer tapping the government guaranteed bank debt market in euros, as developments in underlying markets remain the focus. But there is talk of developments in the covered bond market later in the week.