Westpac

Bank of Montreal (BMO) raised A$800m selling Australian dollar bonds for the first time on Wednesday. The rising flows of Asia Pacific investors is making the Australian dollar market a useful source of diversification for financials and corporates alike.

Bank of Montreal launched an inaugural Australian dollar benchmark on Wednesday. As the fanfare for other Canadian financials has demonstrated, the Asian Pacific buyers are likely to come out in full force.

Lloyds Bank issued its first Australian dollar bond through its senior holding company on Wednesday. As the Kangaroo market shows itself receptive to loss-absorbing products, bankers expect more financial institutions to diversify down under.

Westpac was able to squeeze the pricing through fair value for its debut additional tier one (AT1) in dollars this week.

Lloyds Bank debuted its first ever Australian dollar bond through its senior holding company on Wednesday. As growing numbers of foreign lenders are drawn to the Australian currency — a consequence of the high rates relative to other markets and a buoyant economy — there is a growing incentive for international borrowers to place bonds down under.

Westpac was set to squeeze the pricing for its debut additional tier one (AT1) in US dollars on Tuesday.

China Modern Dairy, which prepaid an old syndicated loan early last year, is back for a $300m three year offshore borrowing.

K Balasubramanian is returning to Citi as the new head of corporate banking for India, succeeding Rahul Shukla who will turn his focus to senior client coverage.

Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp has hired an experienced economist to head up its macro strategy team for Asia.

Westpac this week followed Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in taking advantage of a glut of sterling covered bond liquidity. It issued a sizeable five year sterling covered bond which is expected to provide cheaper funding than the euro or dollar equivalent, boding well for additional supply.

Two Indonesian financial institutions, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Adira Dinamika Multi Finance, are scheduled to hit the loan market in July.

State Bank of India, which wrapped up a $500m syndication with 21 lenders this week, is already eyeing a new borrowing of about the same size, said bankers.