Europe

Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank’s mortgage Pfandbriefe were yesterday (Wednesday) affirmed and removed from CreditWatch negative by Standard & Poor’s, but are on negative outlook.

Fitch put CajaSur on Rating Watch Positive yesterday (Monday) after the Banco de España put the Spanish savings bank under the control of the Fund for the Orderly Restructuring of Banks (FROB).

Banca Popolare di Milano’s covered bonds were affirmed by Fitch on Friday after the issuer told the rating agency that it would take remedial action following a downgrade of its senior rating the previous day.

The Banco de España has announced that CajaSur is being taken under the control of Spain’s Fund for the Orderly Restructuring of Banks (FROB), after merger discussions with Unicaja ended.

Greece’s Alpha Bank has set up a new covered bond programme that allows for direct issuance.

Fitch downgraded Banca Popolare di Milano from A to A-, on stable outlook, yesterday (Thursday), reflecting a deterioration in the Italian bank’s underlying asset quality over the past 18 months.

Austria’s Bawag PSK and France’s Crédit Mutuel Arkéa finish covered bond roadshows today (Friday), and will early next week assess investors’ feedback to see if new issues makes sense.

Banca Carige’s outlook has been changed from negative to stable by Fitch, which said yesterday (Thursday) that the Italian bank should remain well positioned in a challenging operating environment.

Standard & Poor’s has affirmed the AAA ratings of the mortgage covered bond programmes of Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB Bank, on stable outlook.

UniCredit Bank launched a new, Eu500m Pfandbrief issue this (Thursday) morning, despite markets being preoccupied with understanding the implications of a ban on uncovered short-selling of euro-zone government bonds and on naked CDS imposed on German banks by BaFin. But covered bond issuers outside Germany remain put out by the unilateral German initiative.

Norway’s Møre Boligkreditt is today (Thursday) selling a Nkr800m (Eu100.26m) seven year floating rate note, its second publicly launched covered bond. Moody’s has assigned the covered bonds a definitive Aaa rating, which the issuer told The Cover was important for reaching an international investor base.

A merger of Caixa Catalunya, Caixa Manresa and Caixa Tarragona approved by the banks on Monday will create a new entity that will be the fourth largest Spanish savings bank. The transaction is the first major savings bank merger approved by the Bank of Spain and the European Commission, according to Caixa Catalunya.