The Netherlands

Fortis Bank Nederland is in the final stages of establishing a covered bond programme, and is targeting October for the launch of a Eu2bn issue, an official at the bank told The Cover.

ING Bank NV has been downgraded from AA- to A+ by Standard & Poor’s, reflecting the rating agency’s expectation that the Dutch group will report a loss in 2009 after a relatively weak first half performance.

The Dutch central bank’s register of covered bonds has been updated and includes ABN Amro’s programme alongside that of ING Bank and NIBC Bank.

Standard & Poor’s today (Tuesday) placed NIBC Bank’s BBB+ rating on review for possible downgrade because of weaker than expected profitability and asset quality.

Moody’s has today (Friday) downgraded from Aa2 to Aa3 bonds issued under ABN Amro’s Bouwfonds secured debt issuance programme, matching an identical cut to ABN Amro Bank’s rating last week.

Fitch yesterday (Wednesday) downgraded ING Bank from AA- to A+. The rating of the issuer’s mortgage-backed covered bonds was affirmed at AAA.

Update: NIBC Bank’s Eu7bn covered bond programme has been registered with the Dutch central bank, the issuer announced today (Thursday).

NIBC Bank is preparing minor changes to its programme to maintain its covered bonds’ AAA rating from Fitch after the agency today (Wednesday) downgraded the institution’s long term rating and placed the covered bonds on negative review. And the issuer’s covered bonds could be registered with the Dutch central bank very soon, an official at the bank told The Cover.

Netherlands-based insurance company Aegon hopes that its Aegon Bank subsidiary will be ready to issue covered bonds by the end of this year and benchmark transactions are on the agenda, an Aegon official told The Cover.

Moody’s yesterday (Thursday) downgraded the long term debt of ABN Amro Bank from Aa2 to Aa3 in a move that captures the rating agency’s expectations about the credit profile of the Dutch government-owned bank that is due to succeed the issuer after a demerger.

Aegon Bank is planning a covered bond programme, according to Fitch.

ABN Amro yesterday (Monday) priced a Eu2bn five year mortgage-backed benchmark at 98bp over mid-swaps, the tightest level this year for a jumbo issued outside of France and Germany. The issuer spoke to The Cover about the comeback transaction and the forthcoming registration of its programme.