Pre-migration untagged articles

GE SCF won acceptance from European covered bond investors for its debut obligations foncières issue on Tuesday, pricing a Eu1bn five year deal at 105bp over mid-swaps despite some scepticism about its credentials.

ABN Amro priced a Eu2bn five year mortgage backed issue at 98bp over mid-swaps on Monday, returning to the market ahead of the registration of its covered bonds with the Dutch central bank.

The Republic of Austria returned to the Swiss franc market for the first time since 2002 last Friday (July 3), selling a Sfr900m seven year bond at 23bp over mid-swaps via Credit Suisse and UBS.

Old habits die hard but public sector issuers should resist the urge to cut the fees they pay their banks for executing bond issues. They would do well to remember the old idiom: if you pay peanuts...

Deutsche Postbank launched its debut public sector Pfandbrief last Friday (July 3), pricing a Eu1bn five year issue off a Eu9.2bn book that is believed to be by far the biggest for a covered bond in more than a year, and one of the biggest ever.

RBC Capital Markets has been designated a primary dealer by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, effective July 8.

Speaking on CNBC television, Warren Buffett said "There are a lot of excesses to be wrung out, and that process is still underway and it looks to me it will be underway for quite a while." When asked if the US economy was still in a shambles, as he said in February, the second richest man in the world said: "I’m afraid that’s true. They’re doing things, but they take a while to have an effect. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

Amias Berman & Co, the fixed income start-up headed by two former Citigroup bankers, has attracted a minority investment from one of the world’s biggest brokers, EuroWeek has learned, in a move that shows the independent model is gaining ground in the fixed income market.

The Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility bought £80m of commercial paper in the week ending July 2, the Bank said. It is the lowest weekly total since May 7, and the sixth lowest weekly total in the facility’s 20 week history. The total held by the fund dropped to £1.914bn from £1.95bn the previous week. This indicates that the paper sold to the facility did not match the rolls of maturing paper. The fund passed the three month mark last month and it dropped the three month maturity requirement in late April to allow purchases of CP with any maturity between one week and three months.

Volkswagen Financial Services sold a Eu300m three year fixed rate note via Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, but the MTN market as a whole suffered a slow week.

The UK government’s plan to split Northern Rock in two will result in covered bonds going to the "bad bank" and being guaranteed to maturity, a European Commission document suggests.