Westpac

Issuance is starting to resume after the summer break; however, this week a booming public market drew away investor and issuer attention from MTNs. Despite this, a range of established SSA, FIG and corporate borrowers have slipped in, with deals across core, niche and EM currencies.

Market participants expect more banks will now want to print Kangaroos after investors on a search for yield poured into UBS's additional tier one (AT1) deal on Tuesday. The syndication, which surprised those involved after it managed to shave 75bp off its initial pricing guidance and attract A$4bn ($2.71bn) of orders, suggested a market ripe for a deal spree.

Korea Development Bank moved to place the largest Korean Kangaroo earlier this week, a note that was also priced more tightly than any other Korean-issued Aussie dollar deal.

Lloyds Banking Group has returned to the Aussie dollar market for the first time since May 2018, offering investors the chance to invest in two tranches of senior debt at the operating company level. The issuer follows a wave of European and UK financial institutions making their way down under.

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp has launched a $500m loan into general syndication to pay back a bond maturing this year.

Westpac has laid out plans to sell a pair of tier two bonds in the US dollar market, just days after the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra) put the asset class at the heart of its total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) framework.

The Bank of Montreal followed Toronto Dominion’s lead on Wednesday to join the Canadian bail-inable Kangaroo frenzy, placing A$750m of five year debt.

Australia’s bank capital regulator has refused to back down from requiring the country’s largest banks to meet new loss-absorbing debt targets with tier two bonds, raising the prospect of a wave of supply over the next four years. The question now is: how much will it cost them? Tyler Davies reports.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said on Tuesday that Australia’s largest banks would have to use tier two capital to meet their requirements for loss-absorbing debt capacity. But the new targets will start off lower than previously proposed.

Following on from Barclays’ Kangaroo return last month, two more foreign banks looked towards the Australian market on Wednesday. Toronto Dominion Bank placed its inaugural bail-inable Kangaroo and BNP Paribas printed its first Australian dollar AT1 note.

Standard Chartered sailed into uncharted waters on Tuesday to make its Kangaroo debut. The bank issued A$1bn ($700m) across fixed and floating rate tranches, following Barclays' A$800m return to the currency last week.

Barclays returned to the Australian dollar market this week for its second Kangaroo, placing a triple tranche trade that was four times covered. The demand for Kangaroo paper could see more issuers follow Barclays, according to one DCM banker.