Germany

Sentiment improved across the board on Monday, and especially in the covered bond market where Commerzbank issued an oversubscribed seven year tap which it increased from the minimum size during bookbuilding. The increase made a stark contrast to last week’s deals and suggests scope for another transaction on Tuesday. Despite a very supportive technical backdrop, the second quarter outlook is less certain with concern over Greece set to mount, said bankers.

Deutsche Bank was awarded the biggest ever single quota for the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) scheme on March 26, its Rmb6bn ($966m) taking the total allocated size of the programme to Rmb330bn at 111 firms.

WL Bank can usually be counted on to succeed where others are less fortunate but on Wednesday the German issuer tempted fate with its decision to price a 12 year benchmark. With this deal seven of the last 10 covered bonds have had maturities of 10 years or longer, where demand is more limited and more sensitive to price.

Clearstream, the international central securities depository of Deutsche Börse Group, is making further progress in its Asia strategy by opening offshore renminbi cash correspondent bank (CCB) accounts with Chinese banks based in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Singapore.

The euro/dollar exchange rate’s correction following last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting provided an ideal opportunity for LBBW to tap its March 2018, Reg S dollar benchmark on Monday. In the meantime, Aktia Bank announced plans to open books on Tuesday for a €500m seven year, which is expected to benefit from Moody’s recent change in its rating methodology.

Germany’s Deposit Protection Fund (DPF) will provide a guarantee on the exposure that Duesseldorfer Hypothekenbank (DuessHyp) has to Austria’s Heta Asset Resolution, according to a statement published by the German Association of Banks (Bundesverband deutscher Banken) on Sunday.

German banks have a larger exposure to Heta Asset Resolution — the bad bank of Hypo Alpe Adria — than Austrian banks, said Fitch on Thursday. Despite this, Fitch thinks losses should be manageable. Research from NordLB, also released on Thursday, shows the distribution of this risk across German Pfandbriefe cover pools.

Deutsche Kreditbank closed the spread gap to its higher rated peer, Muenchener Hypothekenbank (Muhyp) on Thursday when it priced a 12 year mortgage Pfandbrief. The ambitious price was justified by the high quality book and comfortable level of oversubscription. Meanwhile Aareal Bank is out with guidance on its first RegS dollar benchmark, which will be priced later today.

Fitch put Duesseldorfer Hypothekenbank’s (DuessHyp) BBB- rating on Watch Negative and downgraded its Viability Rating (VR). The bank urgently needs capital, which should ultimately be available from the German government, said the ratings agency. It may be the latest example of the fallout from the Austrian state of Carinthia’s decision not to honour the guarantee of Heta Asset Resolution's unsecured bonds.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) and Dexia Kommunalbank are both exposed to bonds which are likely to be written down following the debt moratorium issued by Heta Asset Resolution — the Hypo Alpe Adria bad bank — last week. Several other German covered bond issuers are likely to be affected, said Commerzbank analysts. Austrian issuers are also being hit and have been put on review for downgrade by Moody’s.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) issued the tightest ever 10 year covered bond on Monday with a book that was built in record time. At €750m the deal was much larger than anything seen in Germany in this tenor for several years. The strong uptake underscores the fact that, despite the extraordinarily tight price and large size, the rare transaction offered compelling relative value.

North Rhine-Westphalia will hit the 10 year part of the euro curve with its debut sustainability bond, which is expected to be priced this week.