Finland

Moody’s yesterday (Monday) downgraded Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank’s covered bonds from Aaa to Aa1 because of a deterioration in the credit strength of the issuer.

Moody's yesterday (Wednesday) changed its outlook on the Finnish banking system from stable to negative, and placed the rating of Pohjola Bank, part of the OP-Pohjola Group, on review for possible downgrade.

The Finnish government confirmed on Friday (27 January) that it will guarantee bank debt issued up to 30 April that refinances outstanding debt. This means that while covered bonds are theoretically included in the Eu50bn package, none will yet be a part of it.

The Finnish government will apply the same methodology as Sweden to determine the individual fees banks will have to pay to make use of the guarantee scheme for covered bonds.

Finland will include covered bonds within its planned guarantee scheme, according to a ministry of finance official. However, the impact of the guarantees for covered bonds is likely to be limited.

The Finnish parliament is debating a government proposal for state guarantees for banks’ unsecured debt and The Cover understands that the guarantee is expected to be extended to covered bonds, as in Sweden but not most other countries.

EuroWeek, in partnership with UniCredit, recently held a Nordic roundtable where major issuers discussed their experiences during the past year and how they have coped during the crisis.

Deutsche Bank may have come first in the all benchmarks ranking for the first half of 2008, but it was by no means the strongest across all markets. Here The Cover reveals the top banks in each of the biggest sectors and examines where the leading banks’ weaknesses lie.

Aktia has successfully gained the consent of noteholders to change the provisions of its covered bonds with respect to maturity and repurchases after it was granted extra flexibility by Moody’s in the way it runs its programme.

Finland’s OP Mortgage Bank priced its new Eu1bn covered bond yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. The issuer told The Cover it was pleased at the high level of demand for its annual euro benchmark.

Finland’s OP Mortgage Bank opened books on a new Eu1bn covered bond this (Tuesday) morning, hoping to use its shorter maturity to strike a different tenor from recent Nordic bonds that found the going tough in both the primary and secondary markets.