Australian dollar

While bankers in the Northern hemisphere plan well-deserved summer breaks, the Australian and New Zealand dollar markets are set to remain open for business, with some competitive pricing on offer.

Deutsche Bahn tapped the Kangaroo and Swedish kronor markets on Wednesday after having spent the first half of 2020 focused on the euro market.

Kommunalbanken snagged NZ$500m ($324.5m) on Friday with the second largest Kauri bond of the year. Interest in the New Zealand dollar is high, with NZ$1.1bn worth of SSA Kauri deals printed so far this month — and more are set to follow.

Finland’s Municipality Finance returned to the domestic New Zealand dollar bond market on Friday after a long absence, to raise its largest Kauri bond since 2008.

Two recent policy changes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) spurred a pair of foreign banks to scoop A$3.2bn ($2.2bn) from the bond market this week. An expansion of repo-eligibility and a term funding facility for domestic banks have freed up the funds to drive the bumper deals, according to a banker at one of Australia's big four banks.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp sold its largest every Australian dollar deal on Tuesday, scooping up A$2.4bn ($1.6bn) of senior unsecured paper through its Sydney branch.

A pair of foreign banks mandated senior unsecured Australian dollar transactions on Monday: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is out with initial price thoughts through its Sydney branch, while the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is preparing a Kangaroo benchmark.

The International Finance Corp returned to the Australian dollar bond market to fund its response to the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, while at the end of last week BNG capped the strongest month for SSA Kangaroo deals for over nine months.

Banks are bounding back into the Kangaroo market. On Wednesday, BNP Paribas jumped in to sell the first syndicated Australian dollar senior non-preferred deal since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, later that day the Bank of Nova Scotia announced plans to join the fray with a mandate for a three year bail-inable deal.

A pair of French banks visited the five year point of the Kangaroo curve on Tuesday. BPCE raised A$650m of senior preferred paper, while BNP Paribas mandated for a senior non-preferred deal.

A quartet of SSAs borrowed a combined A$940m ($613.4m) into the Kangaroo market this week, spurring the SSA Aussie dollar market on to its best monthly volume in over nine months.

The European Investment Bank inaugurated its sustainability awareness bond (SAB) framework in Australian dollars on Tuesday, while on Wednesday NRW.Bank printed the largest SSA Kangaroo so far this year.