The Netherlands

Kees Westermann has left Clifford Chance for Linklaters, where he will head a new structured finance practice for the firm in Amsterdam that will take in covered bonds.

SNS Bank was in no rush to launch a Eu1bn seven year deal that was priced on Wednesday, an official at the Dutch bank told The Cover, and the extra time it gave investors paved the way for a successful outcome.

SNS Bank opted for a Eu1bn size for a seven year covered bond launched yesterday (Wednesday) to ensure a good performance, said a syndicate official at one of its leads, although the size and quality of the order book would have allowed for a larger deal. Meanwhile, Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank hit the tight end of guidance but nevertheless paid a premium for the issue’s Eu500m size.

SNS Bank and Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank have been in the market today (Wednesday), building books for new covered bond issues after the pricing of benchmarks for Dexia Kommunalbank Deutschland and Erste Bank yesterday (Tuesday).

Deals for Dexia Kommunalbank and Erste Group got the primary market off to a strong start this (Tuesday) morning, with both issues oversubscribed and executed swiftly. Further issuance is expected this week, with SNS Bank already sounding out a new issue.

SNS Bank has mandated lead managers for a new covered bond that is expected this week, and several other issuers are said to be candidates for issuance in the coming days.

Moody’s has lowered SNS Bank’s senior debt rating because of a significant worsening of the bank’s asset quality and as a result of high impairments largely stemming from investment management and project finance activities of its SNS Property Finance arm.

The triple-A ratings of ABN Amro covered bonds will not be affected by the demerger of the bank into two institutions, according to the main rating agencies.

Standard & Poor’s has withdrawn its ratings of SNS Bank’s covered bond programme at the issuer’s request, after affirming the ratings at AAA and assigning them a negative outlook.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the first covered bond programme under its revised rating methodology yesterday (Thursday), cutting NIBC’s covered bonds from AAA to AA. The rating was withdrawn at NIBC’s request. Meanwhile S&P affirmed GCE Covered Bonds’ and Société Générale SCF’s programmes at AAA.

Three issuers announced mandates this (Monday) morning, ensuring that the pipeline remains bulging even after three issuers closed books on new issues, as the pace of supply showed no sign of relenting in the second week of the new year.

Standard & Poor’s has taken the first actions under its new covered bond rating methodology, affirming six programmes’ AAA ratings.