Europe

Fitch has downgraded BNP Paribas from AA to AA-, on stable outlook, because the bank “no longer fits comfortably alongside a peer group of more highly rated banks”.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is taking the place of UBI Banca in reopening the Italian covered bond market, launching its inaugural deal today (Tuesday), but the reopening of the obbligazioni bancarie garantite segment has been badly managed, according to bankers. Meanwhile, four other issues are accessing the market today.

Fitch has affirmed the rating of mortgage-backed covered bonds issued by Barclays Bank at AAA after assigning the programme a worse Discontinuity Factor because it assessed a pre-maturity test incorporated in the programme as weaker than it did before.

Four covered bond issuers were this (Monday) morning said to be lining up to tap the covered bond market, with the level being floated for a mooted Italian transaction surprising market participants.

Danske Bank yesterday (Wednesday) sold the first Nordic 12 year benchmark covered bond after heeding investor calls for a long maturity, a syndicate official at Danske told The Cover.

Lloyds TSB Bank yesterday (Wednesday) extended the maturity profile of its Regulated Covered Bond programme with a Eu750m eight year issue that offered insurance company accounts a sought-after 4% coupon, an official at the issuer told The Cover.

SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt priced a Eu1bn five year mortgage-backed covered bond yesterday (Wednesday), confident that it could reach the benchmark size despite coming amid heavy supply, the issuer told The Cover.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier stood out from the crowd with a Eu600m 15 year obligations foncières issue yesterday (Tuesday), which the issuer told The Cover underlined its profile in the long end of the curve. Meanwhile, Crédit Agricole got a Eu1bn five year deal away amid a torrent of shorter dated supply.

Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank’s public sector Pfandbriefe were today (Wednesday) downgraded from AAA to AA-, on negative outlook, by Standard & Poor’s, which then withdrew the rating at the issuer’s request.

Moody’s yesterday (Tuesday) cut covered bonds issued by Alpha Bank, EFG Eurobank Ergasias and National Bank of Greece because it downgraded the Greek sovereign by four notches the day before.

New covered bonds launched by Danske Bank, Lloyds TSB and SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt met with modest demand today (Wednesday), although syndicate bankers highlighted high quality order books and sub-Eu1bn issue sizes in longer maturities as respectable achievements.

ABN Amro Bank yesterday (Monday) priced the biggest 10 year benchmark since September 2009, achieving the strong comeback that the issuer told The Cover it had been targeting. The deal comes ahead of its merger with Fortis Bank Nederland.