It placed the $50m July 2024 floating rate note last Wednesday. The bond pays a coupon of Sofr plus 57bp. Standard Chartered priced the note at par.
Although this is the bank’s first Sofr linked bond, it is not the first time it has sold paper linked to a new risk-free rate.
FAB has one deal priced against Sonia, according to Dealogic — a £20m two year note paying a spread of 35bp over the rate, which it sold in August last year.
“I think we will see more and more issuers do Sofr,” said one head of MTNs. “The cut off for Libor is now very clear – if someone wants to sell a term FRN then they have to look at the format.”
“SSAs got there first, but it’s great to see some banks get there too. We’re now seeing more borrowers post their funding level versus Sofr instead of Libor.”
Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, NatWest Markets and Qatar National Bank are the only other financial borrowers to print in Sofr so far this year, according to Dealogic.
“Of course, it’s all well and good to have interested issuers, but you need investors to buy, which is still taking time to develop in geographies away from the US, like where this deal with its XS ISIN was sold,” said the banker.