Euro

Barclays became the sixth bank to seek the consent of investors to switch a number of hard bullet covered bonds to soft bullet maturities. A successful outcome is likely, which will remove onerous collateral obligations under the pre maturity test.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has recommended that the European Commission (EC) excludes covered bonds from a uniform definition of Mortgage Lending Value (MLV).

Aktia Bank has agreed to buy the remainder of its subsidiary, Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank (Aktia REMB), by 2017. As a result Finland’s savings banks will refinance their own mortgages by establishing a new covered bond issuing institution, expected to be called SP Mortgage Bank, which will start issuing from next year.

Belfius Bank is preparing to launch the first Belgian RMBS deal since 2006. The launch of the deal is set to coincide with the National Bank of Belgium taking up its role as a Eurosystem asset manager executing purchases from October 27, a move which should guarantee a large domestic bid.

Bank of Scotland's £900m equivalent triple currency denominated deal marked a successful return to the UK RMBS market for the issuer after a four year absence. The deal sends a positive message to the market that there is demand for UK RMBS assets, at the right price.

Caja Rurales Unidas issued a €750m five year deal on Thursday, building a slightly oversubscribed book in a short time frame by offering a relatively attractive new issue premium.

Berlin Hyp’s €500m five year mortgage backed Pfandbrief issued on Thursday ranked as one of the more highly oversubscribed deals of the year from Germany and broke a succession of barely subscribed German covered bonds that had been issued over the past six weeks.

The bank for Germany’s medical profession may be small, but it is very well capitalised, its rarely issued covered bonds are highly overcollateralised, and the top rating is exceptionally well protected. The bank is due to start roadshowing from Friday.

This week’s two largest covered bonds, from Nordea and DNB Boligkreditt, have performed well, with investors actively lifting offers on Wednesday. And with the European Central Bank expected to take an accommodative policy stance at next week’s meeting, the near term outlook is looking good from both the investor and issuer perspectives. Further issuance is expected on Thursday and early next week.

Berlin Hyp has mandated leads for its third covered bond of the year but its first with a five year maturity.

Korea’s Kookmin Bank has opened books for the first legally enshrined Korean covered bond. The transaction, which follows programme upgrade to triple-A from both Moody’s and Fitch, will be in dollar fixed rate format and is expected to offer a moderate spread pick up to where Royal Bank of Canada issued a five year deal last week.

The German covered bond market is set for expansion, with the little known Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank appointing leads for a roadshow. At the same time, another small German covered bond issuer, Pforzheim Calw, opened books for a sub-benchmark sized deal to be priced Wednesday.