Canada

Rating: Aaa/AAA

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has made a stunning entry into the international capital markets, smashing expectations with $2bn of three year paper.

The US Commodity Trading Futures Commission's split over whether to accept Japan's uncleared margin rules as equivalent to the US was not an ideal outcome. But the decision, however contentious, is a pragmatic step which will motivate further convergence between regulatory regimes.

Bank of Nova Scotia returned to the covered bond market for the second time this month and the sixth time this year, opening books for its second dollar benchmark of 2016 and the fifth from a Canadian issuer.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will sell its first ever bond on Tuesday, and HSH Finanzfonds mandated what will be its longest dated bond ever.

Guarantor: Canada

The dollar market enjoyed another strong week with a group of issuers printing, but borrowers are looking ahead to a new wave of interest from bank treasuries in Asia — and some are reporting that the demand has already arrived.

Bank of Nova Scotia issued the first sterling fixed rate covered bond in 18 months in a larger than expected size and at a funding level that was not possible in either euros or dollars.

Bank of Nova Scotia has issued the first sterling fixed rate covered bond since March 2015. The positive yielding five year tenor proved a more appropriate maturity than the prevailing 2026 slot which euro issuers have crowded into and the funding was cheaper than a five year dollar covered bond.

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 Province of British Columbia added a pinch of Masala to its funding menu on Thursday, printing at the tight end of guidance as it became the first foreign sovereign or sub-sovereign to enter the market.

The Province of British Columbia will dip into the Masala bond market for the first time with a January 2020 bond on Thursday.