Sweden

Swedbank Mortgage priced its fourth euro benchmark covered bond of the year on Tuesday, a Eu1bn long three year deal that the issuer told The Cover was motivated in part by publication of robust third quarter figures.

Banca Popolare di Milano, Kutxa and Swedbank Mortgage accessed the benchmark covered bond market this (Tuesday) morning to offer investors a medley of new euro issues after a day of preparation yesterday that one syndicate banker said was necessitated by limited liquidity in the market.

Swedbank Mortgage and Banca Popolare di Milano are lining up new issues that will probably be executed tomorrow (Tuesday), after syndicate bankers said the market opened strongly today.

Two inaugural euro covered bonds backed by residential mortgage backed securities were this (Monday) being flagged for possible launch this week.

The covered bond market is in good condition and generally open for issuance, syndicate bankers reported today (Monday), but with no new mandates publicly announced since last Thursday a deal from Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo was this morning the most concrete new issue project in the pipeline for the week.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday (Wednesday) affirmed at AAA mortgage backed covered bonds issued by Sweden’s Länsförsäkringar Hypotek under its revised rating methodology.

Sweden’s Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken priced its first seven year euro benchmark covered bond yesterday (Wednesday), a Eu1bn maximum deal that the issuer said cleared at the re-offer spread “very handsomely”.

New rules effective 1 October that place an 85% loan-to-value limit on Swedish residential mortgages will strengthen the credit quality of covered bonds backed by Swedish home loans, according to Moody’s.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken will today (Wednesday) price a Eu1bn seven year issue at the tight end of revised guidance after meeting with strong demand for the first Swedish euro benchmark since June. Meanwhile, Italy’s UBI Banca is gauging interest for a new issue, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has opened books for an Australian dollar debut, and a mandate for a debut off an innovative programme has been added to the deal pipeline.

Spain’s Unicaja will today (Tuesday) price a Eu750m five year cédulas hipotecarias issue, more than a marketed Eu500m minimum deal size, although syndicate bankers away from the leads said the deal had at times appeared to struggle. Issuance was otherwise restricted to a tap and floating rate note, although there are rumours of deals in the pipeline and CIBC has mandated for an Australian dollar debut.

In brief: Stadshypotek, a subsidiary of Svenska Handelsbanken, is in the 144A market with a debut dollar benchmark.

SNS Bank will today (Tuesday) price the second long dated Dutch benchmark covered bond in a week, while Banco Popular Español has set the spreads for an exchange that is open until Friday and a Swedish covered bond issuer has set up a US MTN programme.