Aktia Bank issued a Eu500m seven year covered bond on Tuesday that overcame difficult market conditions to attract a diverse Eu1.5bn order book that represented the highest level of oversubscription on any benchmark for two weeks.
Nordea Bank Finland drew over Eu4.25bn of demand for a dual-tranche, 5.25 and 12 year, deal on Tuesday that, at Eu2bn, is the largest covered bond issue since November and the first dual-tranche benchmark to have both tranches pricing through swaps.
Pohjola Bank launched the OP group’s first benchmark transaction of the year on Tuesday, a Eu1bn seven year bond that took advantage of a lack of supply in the senior unsecured market coupled with strong demand.
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.
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.
A Eu1bn 10 year Nordea Finland deal on Wednesday that was the first new benchmark eligible for CBPP3 since the programme began met with a “bonkers” response, achieving pricing 5bp inside initial price thoughts and kickstarting the primary market for Eurozone issuers.
Finland’s Ålandsbanken sold its largest single tranche covered bond on Tuesday, a Eu150m four year issue backed by a Finnish cover pool, and plans to return before year-end with a krona-denominated inaugural covered bond out of a Swedish cover pool.
Sampo Oyj, parent company of the Finnish financial conglomerate, sold a Eu500m seven year bond issue on Tuesday, its first euro benchmark since February 2012, and met with strong demand.
Ålandsbanken is aiming to increase the share of covered bonds in its funding profile, according to an official at the issuer, as it prepares to go on a roadshow linked to plans for a euro deal backed by its cover pool of Finnish residential mortgages.
The Finnish Ministry of Finance presented proposals for the implementation of the CRD IV and CRR framework to parliament last Thursday (17 April), with the proposals in line with expectations, according to an official from the Federation of Finnish Financial Services.