Spreads on Danish one year ARM bonds recovered in auctions in the first half of this week after having widened sharply last week, with bid-to-cover levels also improving, as Nykredit and BRFkredit finished their sales, while DLR Kredit only has one day left.
A new Norwegian Act on Financial Institutions being considered by parliament will amend the country’s covered bond framework so that covered bond issuers are treated the same as banks in the event of insolvency, and will also repeal Norway’s securitisation law.
The recent CBPP3-inspired momentum of the covered bond market appeared to have dried up over the past week, with demand for a Eu1bn 10 year OP Mortgage Bank benchmark last Friday (21 November) falling short of expectations amid other senior and covered bond issues being pulled.
Rating agency Scope has published its first ratings of financial institutions in the Nordic region — covering Danske, DNB, Nordea and Swedbank — and noted strong prudential and credit metrics supported by stable funding — notably through covered bonds — but also overheating housing prices in Norway and Sweden.
OP Mortgage Bank is set to launch a 10 year benchmark imminently, having announced the mandate this (Thursday) afternoon for launch in the near future.
Danske Bank sold a Eu1bn four year senior unsecured floating rate note at Euribor plus 38bp on Wednesday of last week (12 November) to complete its funding target for 2014.
Swedish FSA proposals that new mortgage loans be amortised down to 50% of a property’s value according to a specified schedule would be credit positive for banks and covered bonds, according to Moody’s, but an industry representative suggested that implementation will be difficult.
Spreads on Danish one year ARM bonds widened by up to 10bp over the first three days of the latest refinancing auction season this week and bid-to-cover ratios hit lows, despite a sharp fall in supply, with market participants struggling to remember such turbulent conditions and understand the moves.
DNB Boligkreditt sold a Eu500m (Nkr4.23bn) seven year floating rate covered bond last Friday (7 November), building on reverse enquiries to open a new FRN maturity after having tapped a five year through 2014.
Nykredit Realkredit has halved the amount of one year ARMs bonds it is selling when it kicks off the latest Danish auction season on Monday from Dkr74bn to Dkr37bn (Eu4.97bn) as its customers move towards longer dated mortgage products, and is building up euro FRNs in connection with this.