Season’s Greetings from Nordic FIs & Covered and best wishes for 2014!

This will be our last update of the year for Nordic Financial Institutions & Covered Bonds and The Covered Bond Report and Crédit Agricole CIB would like to take the opportunity to wish our readers season’s greetings and all the best for 2014!

We can look back on 2013 as in many ways a successful year: the Nordic covered bond markets welcomed new entrants and saw net growth in euro benchmark issuance, while the year was characterised by improving spreads and funding conditions.

However, the past 12 months have not been without complications and a sting in the tail in the shape of uncertainty over the position of covered bonds in LCRs marks an unwelcome end to the year.

Looking ahead, 2014 will undoubtedly bring further surprises, with regulations again at the top of the agenda. Not unrelated to this, bank capital could prove to be one of the most interesting markets — watch this space!

Our next update of the New Year is due to come out on 9 January.

In the meantime, happy holidays!

Photo: Alex Berger