Europe

Austria’s Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark has mandated leads for its debut mortgage-backed covered bond, a no grow €500m issue that could be launched as early as Wednesday. However, it has yet to decide on maturity, perhaps waiting to see how well other deals are received before making a final call.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt opened books for a seven-year €1 billion covered bond backed by prime Norwegian residential mortgages on Tuesday. The deal attracted a granular, but not hugely oversubscribed book, after pricing with a small new issue premium in a busy market.

The new issue covered bond market gathered momentum on Tuesday with two fresh deals, including one from UniCredit which should substantially cut its cost of funding.

The 'bloodbath' that took place in emerging market bonds last week may not be the last of the outflows, analysts warn

Deutsche Hypothekenbank took advantage of a ratings lift from Moody’s to launch a €500m seven year mortgage Pfandbrief into a quiet primary market on Monday, despite the uncertain macro-economic backdrop which has caused fixed income volatility.

The Dutch arm of BNP Paribas Personal Finance will begin a roadshow next week for its second ever publicly sold RMBS.

The covered bond pipeline is building with several transactions rumoured, a New Zealand bank on the road and a German issuer on Friday mandating banks for a trade next week.

Young people in developing markets are more likely to be rejected for jobs because of their social media profiles, a survey shows

Caja Rural Navarra looks set to price its inaugural €500m five year covered bond at the tight end of guidance on an oversubscribed book. But concerns over absolute yield levels and the less than stellar performance of Cajas Rurales Unidas’s recent deal could spook investors, despite the attractive spread, said bankers.

Crédit Agricole SCF returned to the covered bond market for the second time this year with its second ever public sector backed deal. The €1bn 10 year transaction priced through the OAT, which was the first time in the history of the French covered bond market.

Herbert Stepic, the CEO of RBI and architect of the bank's expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, offered to step down as an inquiry is under way

Holidays in Germany and the UK next week shrink the issuance window but covered bond bankers still expect benchmark deals. A seven year tenor makes for simple execution, but Deutsche Pfandbriefbank’s (Pbb) 15 year bond has captured issuers’ imaginations, said syndicate officials.