Canada

TD priced a $1.75bn 144A private placement covered bond on Thursday at the same spread as Bank of Nova Scotia, which issued a $1.5bn SEC-registered deal two weeks ago. The deal should have priced wider but thanks to demand from Europe, it got great price tension.

Toronto-Dominion has mandated leads and announced initial price thoughts for its first benchmark US dollar covered bond under Canadian legislation.

Royal Bank of Canada returned to the dollar covered bond market for the first time this year, issuing the third benchmark in that currency this month. The $1.75bn deal priced at 27bp over mid-swaps, making it the equal largest this year and tightest in dollars for several years.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) mandated and launched the fifth US dollar covered bond benchmark of the year on Tuesday. The issuer followed the lead of Bank of Nova Scotia which priced the first US dollar denominated Canadian covered bond a fortnight ago.

Royal Bank of Canada has priced its first Australian dollar covered bond of the year and the second in that market this year. The funding was close to what it could have achieved in US dollars and demonstrated the ability of the Kangaroo market to be strategically relevant to the global funding programmes of financial institutions, said RBC.

Toronto-Dominion Bank was set to price the first sterling denominated Canadian three year covered bond on Friday, which will be the seventh sterling covered bond this year and the third deal from a non-UK name. It is also the largest sterling deal issued by a bank outside the UK.

Bank of Nova Scotia was set to price the tightest and longest Canadian covered bond issued in euros on Wednesday. It was also the tightest spread for any non-German seven year seen this year, and at €1.5bn the largest in that tenor.

Nearly a year after registering its covered bond programme with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Canadian issuer Bank of Nova Scotia filed its prospectus. The move is a likely precursor to a dollar issue.

Toronto Dominion’s first legally compliant covered bond stormed the market on Monday morning, raising €1.75bn – €750m more than any of the other five Canadian euro benchmarks that have been launched this year.

Toronto Dominion and BNP Paribas should be ready to launch the Canadian bank’s first legally compliant covered bond next week after announcing the prospective deal on Wednesday. The announcement was not a total surprise, given that the bank’s programme had been signed off by the regulator in late June. However it has removed uncertainty over timing, which bankers away from the deal commended.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce recently updated its covered bond prospectus, giving rise to speculation that it could return to the covered bond market this year. CIBC is only one of two Canadian banks that have not issued in euros in 2014 and was last seen in the market in July 2013.

Toronto-Dominion Bank could become the next Canadian bank to issue a covered bond after it received regulatory approval from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) this week. The sign off comes weeks after Canada set out guidelines on the liquidity coverage ratio.