Pre-migration untagged articles

Asian investors have stepped up their demand for Nederlandse Waterschapsbank paper, a trend seen in some agencies’ benchmark trades and one which allowed the borrower to sell a seven year MTN to an institutional buyer in the region on Monday.

A new report from Fitch Ratings on revised criteria for analysing swap counterparty risk in covered bond programmes has left bankers with the conclusion that covered bonds issued by strong banks that use complex internal swap arrangements will be seen as potentially less robust than those from weaker banks with external swap arrangements.

The Financial Services Authority has fined Nicholas Kyprios, Credit Suisse’s head of European credit sales, £210,000 for "improper market conduct". According to the regulator, he disclosed client confidential information ahead of a bond issue in November 2009.

With the C$600bn mortgage insurance limit for Canada Mortgage Housing Corp (CMHC) getting closer and unlikely to be increased, Toronto Dominion Bank signalled a new rush for Canadian covered bonds that still benefit from the protection. The bank’s $3bn five year on Monday marked the largest fixed rate Canadian covered bond since September 2011.

Some sovereign agencies responded to demand for Australian dollar structured MTNs this week as Taiwainese life insurance companies seek higher yields than are available in US dollars.

Dealers of private EMTNs: Non-syndicated deals for less than or equal to €300m excluding financial repackaged SPVs, GSE issuers, self-led deals and issues with a term of less than 365 days

The European Commission should scrap its plan to rotate rating agencies, the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) and European Mortgage Federation (EMF) have demanded. Rotation would increase ratings volatility, support agencies with no proven track record and raise costs for issuers and investors, they argued.

FMS Wertmanagement and NRW.Bank were among the SSA issuers to sell blockbuster clips of long dated commercial paper this week. The issuers took advantage of CP investors looking for longer dated paper in the face of shrinking yields following the second European Central Bank three year long term refinancing operation.

“Decoupling” is a strong word, and liable to come back to haunt those who say it. But one banker dared to use it this week to describe the European corporate bond market.

Just a week after the European Central Bank’s second long term refinancing operation handed €530bn to 800 banks, the shine is already wearing off the market. Although Macquarie Bank and Credit Suisse are eyeing up forward looking tier one and tier two capital trades in dollars and Swiss francs, market participants say most borrowers will wait to see how the Greek debt swap pans out before tapping euros.

The European Investment Bank launched a 15 year EARN on Wednesday morning, the only benchmark SSA issue this week in a market otherwise paralysed ahead of the outcome of Thursday’s Greek debt swap. KfW is the only other European issuer out with a large syndicated trade.