Financials benefit from Apra blow to SSAs

A triumphant SSA performance so far this year has been shaken by Monday’s announcement from Australian regulator Apra — which said that the only SSA issuance that would be acceptable within Liquidity Coverage Ratio assets would be paper from the Australian government or Australian states. But the result has been a boost for financials, which now benefit from being considered in some quarters to be as good as SSA paper. Against that backdrop, Royal Bank of Scotland launched its first Australian dollar deal of the year on Wednesday. The trade is a three year dual tranche, fixed and floating, lead managed by National Australia Bank, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and RBS.