Issuer of the Year
LBBW
Deal of the Year
LBBW (€1bn 2.625% February 2030)
Most Innovative Deal
Berlin Hyp (€100m 2.75% July 2027 blockchain-based digital bond)
Best ESG Issuer
Berlin Hyp
Best Funding Official
Bodo Winkler-Viti, Berlin Hyp
GlobalCapital spoke to Andreas Wein, LBBW’s Head of Funding and Debt Investor Relations, and Patrick Steeg, Head of Asset & Liability Management, about the firm’s success, its leadership on ESG and what the merger means for LBBW’s covered bond issuance.
GC: LBBW and Berlin Hyp together have won multiple covered bond awards this year, spanning issuance, innovation, ESG, and recognition for the funding team. What do these awards signal about your position in the covered bond market?
Steeg: Let me start by saying that we are extremely proud to have been awarded such recognition by the market. These awards cover a broad range of topics, and I am particularly excited that we received this tremendous feedback across areas from technical innovation to ESG and bond issuance.
It goes without saying that this is the result of a great team effort: Berlin Hyp and LBBW both received fantastic feedback through the awards. They share a long legacy as reliable covered bond and ESG bond issuers in particular. It is our ambition to maintain these high standards.
GC: The merger with Berlin Hyp has effectively created a “new” LBBW in terms of size and market presence. How should investors view this transformation?
Wein: You have to bear in mind that the formerly two banks have been part of the same group, LBBW, since 2022. So the legal merger on August 1, 2025 was just the final step of an integration process that was started a while ago. We have been coordinating our activities in the capital markets since the beginning. But yes, obviously, the merged cover pools make us one of the largest covered bond issuers. The size of the cover pool will allow us to issue larger individual bonds, offering greater liquidity and greater flexibility to respond to market needs.
GC: Does the larger scale change your approach to issuance — for example in refinancing needs, benchmark frequency, or potential diversification into new currencies?
Wein: Our overall refinancing needs have not changed. However, the merged cover pool will give us more flexibility in our issuance. Also, when looking at other currencies beyond the euro we will continue to look at markets such as GBP, USD or CAD to refinance the corresponding assets in our cover pool.
GC: Berlin Hyp was recognised as Best ESG Issuer. As the two covered pools merge, how are you planning to maintain and expand this ESG leadership?
Steeg: We have actually taken the opportunity the merger offered to combine the best elements of the Green and Social bond frameworks of both banks in new Green and Social bond frameworks. We managed to publish our new frameworks on the day of the legal merger. From our point of view the two frameworks reflect the bank’s strategic ambitions and should be well received by investors. Going forward we will certainly monitor the market closely and be responsive to new trends or investor needs.
GC: How do you see investor demand for ESG-labelled covered bonds evolving, and what are the opportunities for the new LBBW in this space?
Wein: For the time being we feel that investor demand by far exceeds available ESG supply. I believe that going forward it will be mostly regulatory developments that will drive the market. Obviously, the EU Green Bond Standard comes to mind. However, we feel very comfortable aligning our frameworks with ICMA standards.
GC: What does success look like for the bank in the covered bond market over the next three to five years?
Steeg: Being the most cost-efficient instrument available and at the same time the most crisis-resistant instrument, they will remain the centrepiece of our capital markets issuance. Hence we see it as our responsibility to remain a reliable, strong issuer in the market that maintains an active dialogue with all other market participants to develop the market further.