Currencies

Berlin Hypothekenbank has mandated joint leads for a European roadshow to market the first Green Pfandbrief.

The spread between the weakest and strongest covered bonds is tighter than at any point in the last five years, thanks to the European Central Bank’s backstop bid. But just because the ECB is willing to buy anything and everything that qualifies as a covered bond, that doesn’t mean investors should.

At the end of April Standard & Poor’s will roll outs its new multi Cédulas (MC) rating methodology. It expects 40% of deals it rates to be downgraded two to three notches and 40% to be upgraded about two notches. At the same time it will implement its European commercial real estate (CRE) rating criteria, which will result in 10% of covered bonds with commercial real estate in the pool being downgraded by one notch and no upgrades.

The Austrian state of Carinthia announced that it will provide a line of liquidity support to Austria’s Pfandbriefstelle. The decision suggests a slight improvement in the negative political backdrop dominating Austrian banks. Despite continued concerns, the recent sell-off has thrown up relative value opportunities, said analysts.

HVB returned to the covered bond market for its first and only mortgage-backed covered bond benchmark of the year on Tuesday and enjoyed a solid reception. The choice of tenor, deal size and timing all played important roles in the deal’s success.

The decision to remove Heta exposure from Pfandbriefe collateral pools and add substitute assets has strengthened the position of investors and has demonstrated the importance that the German banking industry places on the reputation of the Pfandbrief product, said Moody’s on Monday.

Sentiment improved across the board on Monday, and especially in the covered bond market where Commerzbank issued an oversubscribed seven year tap which it increased from the minimum size during bookbuilding. The increase made a stark contrast to last week’s deals and suggests scope for another transaction on Tuesday. Despite a very supportive technical backdrop, the second quarter outlook is less certain with concern over Greece set to mount, said bankers.

Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM) made a tender offer for its €2bn 3.875% November 2020 on Monday and will pay a 2% premium. The bank has also proposed an extraordinary resolution to redeem all notes other than those tendered, for which it will not pay a premium.

Covered bonds and RMBS share important similarities which both the European Central Bank and Bank of England acknowledged last year in a discussion paper. As the two asset classes evolve, their vastly different regulatory treatment should become more difficult to justify. A comparison of Rabobank’s Storm 2015-1 RMBS, originated by its Obvion subsidiary, to a forthcoming conditional pass through covered bond to be issued by Van Lanschot Bankiers shows that regulation remains a more important determinant of price than fundamental credit risk.

The Netherlands has become the first country to comply with best practice guidelines proposed by the European Banking Authority last year, and on Thursday the Dutch Finance Ministry had the opportunity to showcase its covered bond regime at the European Covered Bond Council’s (ECBC) plenary meeting in Amsterdam. The ministry took the opportunity to stress the importance of maintaining diversified sources of funding and the need for consistent regulatory treatment between the covered bond and securitization markets.

WL Bank can usually be counted on to succeed where others are less fortunate but on Wednesday the German issuer tempted fate with its decision to price a 12 year benchmark. With this deal seven of the last 10 covered bonds have had maturities of 10 years or longer, where demand is more limited and more sensitive to price.

Swedbank became the seventh issuer to price a sterling three year covered bond FRN this year, launching a £500m deal on Wednesday. This is the third transaction from an overseas covered bond issuer in sterling and shows the attractiveness of the basis swap, particularly after the surprise reate cut in Sweden.