Australia

In this round-up, Stock Connect southbound flows pick up considerably, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) introduces an expanded RMB clearing and depository facility, and RMB clearing in Hong Kong increases in August. Plus, a recap of our coverage this week.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich has mandated joint leads for its first benchmark euro covered bond and the Bank of Queensland has hired leads to explore options for a potential structure.

Five banks raised more than $10bn in the senior unsecured dollar market this week, exploiting strong demand and at spreads that were in line with where covered bonds would have priced.

The universe of active covered bond issuers is set to further expand with the Bank of Queensland hiring leads to explore options for a potential covered bond structure.

National Australia Bank is seeking the consent of investors to change the terms of four covered bonds denominated in a range of currencies, for which it will pay a fee.

CME Group has added two futures contract with alumina as the underlying to its base metals range.

Australian issuer Suncorp-Metway pulled in A$350m with the first Australian dollar denominated 10 year covered bond seen since 2014.

While the European covered bond pipeline is barren, Australian issuer Suncorp-Metway is lining up a new Australian dollar-denominated 10 year covered bond, continuing its tradition of issuing in its home currency.

Steven Maartensz and Dyson Bowditch have been named co-heads of equities distribution for Goldman Sachs in Australia, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp has made a number of changes to its organisation in Hong Kong and Singapore, in a bid to improve its distribution platform.

Eurofima has increased its January 2027 Kangaroo bond by A$20m ($15.4m), taking the total outstanding volume of the bond to A$95m. The smaller sized, tap to demand reopening is a growing trend in the market, said bankers.

The SSA market enjoyed a resurgence of Kangaroo issuance this week. The flurry was mostly driven by Asian reverse enquiry, and stands in contrast to an inactive first half for SSA issuance in Aussie dollars.