Covered Bonds

HSH Nordbank will not be launching its planned SoFFin guaranteed bond issue until next year, and bankers are now considering whether it will even be the first German bank to tap the government guaranteed market.

BNP Paribas’ Eu1.5bn five year senior unsecured issue that resuscitated the unguaranteed market yesterday (Monday) has performed strongly in the aftermarket. However, the range of banks considered strong enough to follow the Aa1 credit’s example is considered narrow – although the options for even guaranteed issuance in euros this year are now seen as limited.

BNP Paribas this (Monday) morning launched the first public unguaranteed senior unsecured euro transaction since Lehman Brothers collapsed in mid-September. While bankers were pleased to see that unguaranteed funding for financial institutions is feasible, the deal did not convince everyone of the viability of jumbo covered bond issuance in the near future.

Rating action: Fitch on Friday upgraded UBI Banca’s rating from A to A+.

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Italy’s Banca Carige signed a Eu5bn covered bond programme yesterday (Thursday).

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, the second largest regional group of France’s Crédit Mutuel Group, is today (Friday) signing a Eu10bn covered bond programme at the company’s headquarters in Brest.

Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Natixis from AA-/A-1+ to A+/A-1 at the end of October does not affect the ratings on the notes issued in six Spanish structured covered bond transactions where it is liquidity provider, the rating agency said on Wednesday.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos and LeasePlan are pricing the first government guaranteed deals from Portugal and the Netherlands, respectively, this (Friday) afternoon. However, the first guaranteed deal from Germany, for HSH Nordbank, is not expected to be rushed to market.

Following the news yesterday (Thursday) that Norwich & Peterborough Building Society has set up two covered bond-related companies, an official at the institution told The Cover that the move reflects the building society’s interest in extending its funding profile.