Nordea Mortgage Bank, a new Finnish issuing entity established following a demerger of Nordea Bank Finland, is looking into possibilities in the euro market and could launch its first euro covered bond in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to an official at Nordea.
OBOS Boligkreditt issued its first covered bonds on Monday, selling two Nkr2bn FRNs while its parent repurchased Nkr2.9bn of senior unsecured debt, and an official at the new Norwegian issuer said it expects “a high growth rate” in the coming years after establishing its name in the market.
Stadshypotek issued its first covered bond out of a Finnish cover pool today (Tuesday), selling a thrice-subscribed Eu500m 10 year issue that progressed smoothly, in contrast with more turbulent conditions in other markets, with NordLB pulling a senior trade amid pressure on European banks.
DNB Boligkreditt attracted Eu2bn of orders to a Eu1.5bn 10 year covered bond today (Tuesday) that is the largest euro benchmark in the maturity since 2014 and comes after a slew of long-dated supply.
SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt sold its first 10 year euro benchmark on Tuesday, with the possibility of offering a positive yield at the long end a factor, according to the issuer’s COO, who said erroneous reports on its substitute assets did not affect the Eu1bn deal’s successful outcome.
The opening sales of the latest Danish refinancing auctions yesterday and today achieved encouraging bid-to-covers, with market participants attributing the demand to the spreads being attractive against a range of alternatives, and FRNs sold next week are expected to be well received.
Norway’s OBOS-banken is set to issue a debut Norwegian krone covered bond through a new wholly-owned covered bond issuer in the third quarter, having on Wednesday received a provisional covered bond rating from Moody’s, as it negotiates a split from issuer Eika Boligkreditt.
New caps on LTV ratios that took effect in Finland last week are credit positive for Finnish covered bonds, according to Moody’s, reducing credit risk at the whole-loan level and adding to protections in the Finnish covered bond framework.
DBRS published a first Legal & Structuring Framework (LSF) assessment of Swedish covered bonds yesterday (Thursday), highlighting some shortfalls but noting these are “not uncommon” and have mitigating factors, while also citing covered bonds’ connectedness to the economy as a strength.
Storebrand Boligkreditt repaid a maturing Norwegian krone covered bond two days late last week, according to Moody’s, which said that the payment delay was due to a technical error, is not considered a default, and has not affected the credit quality of the programme.