Norway

Danish banks say they could replace non-preferred senior debt with preferred senior bonds in the second half of 2020, after Denmark’s national supervisor relaxed minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

Kommunalbanken has raised its borrowing requirement for the year back to its initial target as a result of a strong performance in the Norwegian Krone over the summer.

Subordinated bond issuance could decline dramatically among Nordic banks following implementation the EU’s new bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD 2), Fitch said this week.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes in late July.

Smaller loan loss provisions and high capital ratios have helped Nordic lenders to kick off European bank earnings season in a positive fashion. But analysts are cautious about drawing any conclusions for the rest of the sector.

Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt did not need to offer any premium to investors to complete its debut sale of green covered bonds on Wednesday. The deal adds to a recent flurry of socially responsible investments, which are offering financial issuers very competitive terms.

Kommunalbanken snagged NZ$500m ($324.5m) on Friday with the second largest Kauri bond of the year. Interest in the New Zealand dollar is high, with NZ$1.1bn worth of SSA Kauri deals printed so far this month — and more are set to follow.

Aker BioMarine, a Norwegian fishing company that harvests krill to be used in nutritional products, has already attracted substantial demand for its listing on Norway’s junior Merkur Market; it will look to list on Norway’s main exchange in 2021.

Covered bonds issued by SR Boligkreditt and Vseobecna uverova banka (VUB) this week were well subscribed, reflecting the generous spreads they paid compared to deals by issuers from core Europe.

Deals issued on Thursday by SR Boligkreditt and UniCredit Germany (HVB) illustrated that investor demand is skewed to bonds that offer a pick-up, no matter how small.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes in June.

Three SSA borrowers hit the dollar market on Tuesday. The Inter-American Development Bank raised $4bn with a five year while Kommunalbanken tested the waters at 10 years. The World Bank joined them with a small but impressive bond linked to Sofr.