Euro

Covered bonds not eligible for the European Central Bank’s covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3) widened further on Thursday, while the rest of the market was largely unchanged on low volumes. Traders are axed to offer and reluctant to show bids.

Moody’s positive rating action on German and Italian covered bonds will help improve structural demand for selective programmes. However, with Fitch still rating many programmes at a lower level the full benefit will be muted.

Sentiment in core covered bonds is holding in with core European five year paper trading steadily. Peripheral bonds are less well placed and deals not eligible for the European Central Bank’s covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3) are offered in good size.

Spanish covered bond spreads were stable on Monday following the multi-notch rating upgrades Moody’s announced at the end of last week, as developments over Greece’s debt negotiations took centre stage. Though a few selective high beta names attracted real money interest, the overall market was heavy even as some government bonds were 20bp tighter or more.

Timo Ruotsalainen, head of treasury at Aktia Bank in Finland, speaks to The Cover about the European Central Bank’s covered bond purchase programme, LCR funding and shrinking investor pools.

A 10bp new issue premium was not enough for HSH Nordbank to attract a fully subscribed book for its €500m seven year Pfandbrief issued on Monday. Though it was cheap to the curve, the deal was much more expensive than other higher rated, shorter dated agency debt offered at the same time.

After the disastrous reception of Royal Bank of Canada’s seven year covered bond on Wednesday, SCBC followed with another seven year on Thursday. The infrequent issuer raised half the amount than SEB and paid 5bp more, but did the right thing by not compounding the problem left by RBC.

Yorkshire Building Society showed RBC how to syndicate a deal on Thursday, choosing a maturity, size and spread that made sense from the start.

Royal Bank of Canada incurred the wrath of the market on Wednesday when it issued a €1bn deal from a €750m book. The spread, which offered an insufficient concession to Toronto Dominion’s earlier deal this week, widened by 4bp and caused the market to widen 2bp. At the same time Bunds fell sharply, suggesting the seven year may no longer be the market’s sweet spot.

SCBC mandated leads for a seven year covered bond on Wednesday, the second in that tenor from Sweden and the third in that tenor overall this week. The transaction comes as RBC struggled to build strong demand for its seven year after Bund yields soared. Yorkshire Building Society has responded to concerns around volatility and mandated leads for a shorter maturity.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken returned to the covered bond market on Tuesday after an 18 month absence to print a €1bn deal with a longer maturity, tighter spread and lower new issue premium than Toronto Dominion was able to do a day earlier.

The European Central Bank moderated covered bond purchases in its latest reporting period. While this was welcome news, analysts doubted the central bank had begun to taper purchases in earnest.