Euro

Bank of New Zealand convinced over 117 investors to participate in a three times oversubscribed trade on Monday. The surge of demand for the three year deal took leads by surprise, and market participants expect other non-European names to take advantage of investors’ hunger for the short end.

The ECB's Long Term Refinancing Operation could increase the bid for covered bonds through its restorative effect on the senior unsecured market.

Bank of New Zealand returned to the market on Monday with a long three year benchmark, after postponing a five year trade earlier this month. The change of maturity and capped deal size yielded a far more positive result, with over 100 accounts contributing to the most oversubscribed order book of the year.

Barclays Capital’s new fiscal strength covered bond indices, which adjust the market value weighted exposure of country risk based on fiscal strength, have won the support of investors polled by The Cover.

Issuers could hardly hope for a better backdrop to bring benchmark deals. Bond yields are falling and investors are looking to put cash to work across a swathe of asset classes to capitalise on the rally, as seen most emphatically in the senior unsecured market this week. Yet Norway’s Sparebank Vest Boligkreditt remains the only obvious candidate for a deal next week.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreddit convinced over 110 accounts to participate in the first publically syndicated seven year covered bond in almost six months.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt priced a €1.25bn seven year trade on Tuesday at the tight end of guidance, taking year to date Norwegian supply to over €4bn.

Westpac Banking Corporation priced its first Aussie dollar covered bond on Monday night, following in the wake of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It mimicked CBA’s choice of tenor and dual fixed rate and floating rate format — but issued slightly less and at a tighter spread.

Lingering concerns about the depth of the 144A market have been allayed after Bank of Nova Scotia’s $2.5bn deal on Friday on the back of more than $5bn orders took this January’s supply beyond last year’s almost record levels.

After a spree of issuance by Australian banks in foreign currencies, Westpac announced plans on Friday to issue its first Australian dollar covered bond, while Bank of New Zealand raised NZ$225m ($180m) through a domestic private placement.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s ground-breaking Aussie dollar covered bond deal is the story that everyone was waiting for. Its success disproves the conventional wisdom that euros and dollars are the only really liquid markets.

Year to date covered bond issuance in all currencies has reached €32.3bn, according to Dealogic data. Issuers have launched successful trades in euros, sterling, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish kroner/kronor, Swiss francs and Australia dollars. But US dollar denominated supply, the largest market after euros, has been non-existent.