Sweden

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken is today (Monday) tapping the market with a five year benchmark covered bond, the first in six months for an issuer away from France and Germany.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken is today (Friday) testing the market for a new benchmark covered bond, The Cover understands.

Aareal’s debut SoFFin-backed issue has been the highlight of government-guaranteed supply this week, while BNP Paribas is today (Wednesday) adding momentum to a reopening of the unguaranteed senior bank market.

Moody’s downgraded Swedbank’s senior unsecured debt from Aa3 to A1 with a negative outlook this (Friday) morning.

Standard & Poor's and Moody’s have delivered verdicts on Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken with rating actions.

Activity in the euro government guaranteed bank debt market has picked up since Monday’s Swedbank issue, but only moderately. And despite an improvement in market sentiment, covered bond banks are keeping investors waiting for a follow-up to last week’s jumbo from Crédit Agricole.

Swedish issuers have told The Cover that it is unlikely they will be making use of the government guarantees available to them for covered bonds. While the costs of such issuance may be interesting relative to guaranteed senior unsecured issuance, other considerations work against it.

The Swedish National Debt Office yesterday (Tuesday) announced the bank-specific fees for use of the state guarantee for covered bonds. All charges for the guarantee programme have now been set.

Rating news: The Swedish Covered Bond Corp must take certain remedy actions set out in the documentation of its covered bond programme to mitigate the downgrade of its parent’s ratings by Standard & Poor’s last Wednesday, the agency said today (Monday).

Rating action: The Swedish Housing Finance Corp, SBAB, was yesterday (Wednesday) downgraded by Standard & Poor’s from AA- to A+. The AAA ratings of the covered bonds of its subsidiary, the Swedish Covered Bond Corp, were not affected.

The European bond market is bracing itself for a pick-up in guaranteed senior unsecured issuance from a wider range of jurisdictions as banks put the final touches to their new documentation and regulators release precise details of their respective guarantees.

While the Swedish National Debt Office has announced the fixed fees for its guarantee scheme and the bank-specific fees for guaranteed senior unsecured debt, market participants are still waiting for news on the individual fees that will be charged for guaranteeing covered bonds.