National Australia Bank

Metropolitan Life landed a good price on its return to the Aussie dollar market on Thursday, thanks to tightening spreads and a scarcity of high rated financial paper.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced plans to explore the potential uses and implications of a central bank digital currency using distributed ledger technology. The RBA follows the Banque de France, which last year worked with Société Générale to settle a crypto covered bond — a product that offers a number of ways to deploy blockchain technology.

Greencoat Renewables, the Irish renewable infrastructure company, has signed a €200m term loan, as it looks to manage its longer duration leverage.

Woori Bank is preparing to make its Kangaroo bond debut, choosing the market to launch its first Covid-19 response bond.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank issued a A$500m ($362.2m) bond in Australia on Friday, as a lack of financial paper in the market drove investor demand.

Singapore’s DBS Bank ventured into the Kangaroo market on Wednesday in search of tier two debt. Though Australian dollar tier two volumes have remained stable year on year, there is a marked decline in offshore issuance so far in 2020.

International Finance Corp sold the first Kauri bond in more than two months on Thursday, while in the Kangaroo market a pair of European agencies tapped a pocket of demand further down the curve.

UBS raised A$2.75bn ($1.96bn) with a triple tranche senior unsecured deal through its Australian branch on Thursday, printing the largest ever Australian dollar bank deal for a foreign issuer.

Finland’s Municipality Finance returned to the domestic New Zealand dollar bond market on Friday after a long absence, to raise its largest Kauri bond since 2008.

Two recent policy changes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) spurred a pair of foreign banks to scoop A$3.2bn ($2.2bn) from the bond market this week. An expansion of repo-eligibility and a term funding facility for domestic banks have freed up the funds to drive the bumper deals, according to a banker at one of Australia's big four banks.

A pair of foreign banks mandated senior unsecured Australian dollar transactions on Monday: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is out with initial price thoughts through its Sydney branch, while the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is preparing a Kangaroo benchmark.

The International Finance Corp returned to the Australian dollar bond market to fund its response to the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, while at the end of last week BNG capped the strongest month for SSA Kangaroo deals for over nine months.