Danske Bank’s head of group treasury has played down reports that the Danish group is going to limit covered bond issuance as a percentage of total funding, but said it will keep an eye on the level given the regulatory focus on the topic.
Risk aversion is back and, following a very strong performance overall since last July, banks have been the hardest hit, especially in Italy and the periphery.
BRFkredit Group’s pre-tax profit almost doubled in 2012, as a result of increased lending activities, lower costs, and higher earnings from the issuer’s investment portfolios, according to an official at the Danish lender.
Peter Engberg Jensen, group chief executive at Nykredit, spoke to Nordic Financial Institutions & Covered about regulatory challenges, Junior Covered Bonds, and the Danish banking system.
DLR Kredit reported a 63% growth in pre-tax profit in 2012, driven by higher administration fees on its portfolio and declining provisions for loans, according to an official at the issuer.
Nordea Kredit wrapped up its latest ARM bond refinancings today (Thursday), achieving slightly tighter levels than expected, according to one analyst, while Nykredit Realkredit is four days into one of its largest auction seasons.
Danske Bank launched a Eu1bn no-grow seven year deal today (Thursday) that marked the Danish issuer’s return to the euro benchmark covered bond market after almost two years of absence and was the third seven year issue of the week.
SpareBank 1 SMN paid up to sell an inaugural fixed rate euro senior unsecured transaction last Thursday (14 February), but hopes that the spread between it and its Norwegian peers will narrow over time after an encouraging investor reception, said an official at the issuer.
Fitch affirmed the ratings of Norway’s Sparebanken on Tuesday, saying that their current ratings of A or A- reflect the sound asset quality and good capital and leverage ratios of the banks.
Nykredit Realkredit is planning a benchmark euro Junior Covered Bond later this year and Nykredit Bank a benchmark euro senior unsecured bond, although issuance of the two instruments is likely to be lower this year than last, officials at the two arms of the Nykredit group said yesterday (Wednesday).