North America

Panellists at the II Covered Bond Summit in New York on Monday including representatives of Bank of America and Washington Mutual were bullish about the potential for covered bonds to take hold among US financial institutions given the increased spread between covered bonds and other funding instruments that has resulted from the recent turmoil.

Joshua Friedberg, director and portfolio manager at BlackRock, painted a bleak picture of the future for covered bonds in the US yesterday (Monday) at the II Covered Bond Summit in New York. He said that rather than behave as a rates product as they had been marketed to US investors, covered bonds had suffered from illiquidity in the recent market turmoil and should pay a liquidity premium that might make 144A issuance prohibitively expensive for European issuers.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) priced its debut Eu2bn five year covered bond at 10bp over mid-swaps this (Tuesday) morning, at the tight end of the 11bp over mid-swaps area guidance.

Sheila Bair, FDIC chairman, gives the regulator's take on the covered bond market.

Sheila Bair, FDIC chairman, takes further questions, beginning with Louis Hagen of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks.

Sheila Bair, FDIC chairman, takes questions, beginning with Bert Ely of Ely & Company.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has opened the books on its inaugural, five year covered bond this morning with price guidance that appears to be gaining traction among investors.

Tim Skeet, head of covered bond origination at Merrill Lynch and conference chair, introduces Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, who makes her opening remarks.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is set to launch its inaugural benchmark covered bond next Monday and all eyes will be on just where the first Canadian transaction is positioned relative to outstanding sectors, especially the UK.

Achmea Hypotheekbank is expected to launch a covered bond announced today (Thursday) early next week, having mandated Barclays Capital, Dresdner Kleinwort, JP Morgan and UniCredit.

Bank of Scotland, formerly HBOS, is expected to issue a seven year euro benchmark covered bond in the coming days.

The Royal Bank of Canada has begun the roadshow for its inaugural covered bond, the first from Canada, which is expected to be launched next week.