Nordics

UBS is set to price only its second covered bond, after having built an oversubscribed order book this (Monday) morning for a 10 year follow-up to its five year debut of September. And the first Norwegian euro benchmark of the year is expected tomorrow (Tuesday).

Danske Bank took advantage of limited long dated supply and what a spokesperson for the bank said was an unusual position among Nordic issuers to launch the first 10 year euro benchmark from the region yesterday (Wednesday), a Eu1.25bn issue.

Danske Bank is pricing the longest dated euro benchmark from the Nordic region at the tight end of guidance this (Wednesday) afternoon after the transaction met with a strong reception.

Swedish Covered Bond Corp sold a Nkr600m (Eu72m/Skr738m) deal yesterday (Tuesday), with investors seeking foreign covered bonds given the lack of domestic supply.

Moody’s has today (Tuesday) confirmed the Aa2 rating and “high” Timely Payment Indicator assigned to Terra Boligkreditt’s covered bonds after completing a review of whether Terra’s function as a group funding platform could make the cover pool less attractive to a potential purchaser in the event of an issuer default.

OP Mortgage Bank built the biggest order book of this week’s deals for a Eu1.25bn five year benchmark that was priced at 40bp over mid-swaps yesterday (Thursday). The issuer told The Cover that it usually comes to the market in the spring, but that this year it paid off to postpone its transaction.

EBS Mortgage Finance is taking orders for a Eu1bn three year mortgage-backed benchmark at the 175bp over mid-swaps area today (Thursday), while OP Mortgage Bank was this morning twice oversubscribed on a Eu1.25bn five year.

EBS Mortgage Finance and OP Mortgage Bank are sounding out investors today (Wednesday) for what are said to be three and five year deals, respectively. Fortis Bank Nederland’s planned debut is also being discussed.

Swedish Covered Bond Corp yesterday (Tuesday) issued a Sfr275m June 2016 deal in a rare appearance in the Swiss franc market, which was also the first public covered bond for a foreign issuer in the currency for four weeks.

Moody’s yesterday (Thursday) downgraded DLR Kredit’s issuer rating from A1 to A3 under the rating agency’s new methodology for rating financial institutions that specialise in issuing covered bonds on behalf of an owner bank or a group of banks.

Norges Bank is planning to reverse temporary changes to its collateral requirements and tighten them beyond those that existed before they were eased, it announced today (Thursday). From February 2012 the Norwegian central bank will no longer accept bank securities as collateral, but covered bonds will remain eligible.

A proposed amendment to Sweden’s covered bond law that sets out the options available to an administrator to obtain liquidity in the event of an issuer’s insolvency is a positive addition to the law, but will not, on its own, lead to an improved liquidity gap assessment under Fitch’s methodology, the rating agency said yesterday (Monday).