Canada

Guarantor: Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board

Royal Bank of Canada is set to become the first covered bond issuer in Canada to join the Covered Bond Label initiative.

One of the busiest days ever in the public sector dollar market ended with five issuers sitting on deals printed at the top end of their size targets and with pricing tightened from initial thoughts. Another borrower is already out for Thursday business and bankers predict that conditions are so “incredible” that deal flow will stay healthy into next week — no matter what policy statements incoming US president Donald Trump makes at his inauguration on Friday.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has appointed a head of compliance for its European Global Trade Repository (GTR) business.

Guarantor: Canada

More dollar deals are expected next week following a searing few days for trades in the currency, but despite bumper books and deal sizes, some in the market feel there is still some price discovery work to do. Meanwhile, US president-elect Donald Trump made his presence felt on the issuance calendar.

The socially responsible investment market for public sector bond issuers is shaping up for another busy year, with one agency planning a debut print in the next few months.

As many as eight covered bonds were launched across three currencies this week, the vaguely discernible pattern suggesting better interest for the larger deals with intermediate maturities and particularly those from non-eurozone issuers where liquidity is most likely to be better.

Export Development Canada showed on Wednesday that despite some big deals this year in fives, there is still plenty of demand in the three year part of the dollar curve as it took the rare step of increasing a deal from its initial size target. The trade came as a trio of other dollar deals hit screens.

Public sector borrowers tore $10bn of funding from the dollar market on Tuesday, shaving several basis points from initial price thoughts in the process. Only one benchmark is on screens for Wednesday, but SSA bankers expect next week’s run-up to the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president on January 20 will be — in Trump terminology — “huge”.

The dollar covered bond market is in good shape, and it seems likely that issuers will want to follow the success of Bank of Montreal which last Wednesday issued the first benchmark of the year at a cheaper cost and in larger size than its previous deal issued six month ago.

Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank tapped the sterling covered bond market this week at cheaper levels than they could have achieved in euros and dollars.