Oceania

Westpac New Zealand attracted a high quality order book for a covered bond issue on Wednesday but it was slow to build and thinly subscribed, leading some to conclude that the market lacked confidence.

HSBC raised A$500m ($388m) on its return to the Australian dollar bond market on Thursday, securing a "fantastic" result by offering a pick-up over local bank bonds.

New Zealand has announced its new government bond programme will feature a 30 year syndication, extending its curve from 2041 to 2051.

JP Morgan has appointed a new head of financial institutions group (FIG) investment banking coverage for Australia and New Zealand, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia on Monday.

Tuesday's €750m 10 year covered bond from ASB Finance demonstrated commitment to the market according to the bank's Treasurer, Chandu Bhindi, who spoke to GlobalCapital about the deal on Thursday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's New Zealand subsidiary ASB Finance issued its largest covered bond on Tuesday, the first 10 year from New Zealand and the first covered bond from the country since January 2019. The focus for this week’s transaction was all about re-engaging with investors, said ASB Bank treasurer, Chandu Bhindi.

Barclays returned to the Kangaroo bond market this week after being absent for two years to raise A$600m across three tranches of holding company debt. The market was split over which tranche offered the most value in pricing.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's New Zealand subsidiary ASB Finance issued its largest covered bond on Tuesday, the first 10 year from New Zealand and the first covered bond from the country since January 2019.

Barclays is set to end a two year absence from the Kangaroo bond market this week, as it seeks up to three tranches of callable senior debt.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New Zealand subsidiary, ASB Finance, has mandated leads for the first Kiwi covered bond since January 2019. At the same time, Berlin Hyp has appointed lead managers for a 12 year mortgage Pfandbrief.

New Zealand will be an important test case for mandatory reporting on climate risks. Financial firms everywhere would be wise to sit up and take notice.

Demand for BPCE's latest Kangaroo note was skewed towards the preferred senior format this week, with non-preferred paper only making up A$125m ($96.0m) of the A$750m deal. The French firm was also joined in the market by Rabobank, which sold its first Aussie deal after an almost two year absence.