Covered Bonds

NIBC is in the market today (Thursday) with what is expected to be one of the last government guaranteed deals in euros this year, while Credit Suisse became the latest bank to launch a senior unsecured deal without a government guarantee.

Rating actions: Moody’s yesterday (Wednesday) upgraded the ratings of Banco Espanol de Credito’s cédulas hipotecarias from Aa1 to Aaa. Meanwhile S&P downgraded two cédulas issuers.

In brief: Intesa Sanpaolo is in the market today (Wednesday) with a five year senior unsecured deal that, like BNP Paribas’ Eu1.5bn deal on Monday, is coming without a government guarantee – indeed the Italian guarantee scheme has not yet even been finalised.

Nykredit, Nordea Kredit and Realkredit Danmark are satisfied with the pricing they have achieved so far during the auctions of their Danish covered bonds.

Rating action: Fitch today (Wednesday) downgraded Banco Guipuzcoano’s outstanding cédulas hipotecarias from AAA to AA+. The outstanding covered bonds amount to Eu1bn.

Rating action: Fitch yesterday (Tuesday) assigned a AAA expected rating to Caja Murcia’s Eu160m December 2011 issue of cédulas hipotecarias. The rating agency is still waiting for final documentation before finalising the rating.

The Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association and the American Securitization Forum yesterday (Tuesday) announced the creation of the US Covered Bonds Council to develop and promote the market in the US.

The Swedish National Debt Office yesterday (Tuesday) announced the bank-specific fees for use of the state guarantee for covered bonds. All charges for the guarantee programme have now been set.

Belgian banks are in the early stages of discussions about developing a legislative framework for covered bonds in Belgium, The Cover has learnt.