SEB took advantage of a window of stability early this week to issue a Eu1bn (Skr9.36bn) seven year covered bond on Tuesday, but both it and SCBC, which launched a Eu500m seven year into a deteriorating market on Thursday, had to revise their pricing expectations.
Nordea and SEB opened the latest earnings season this week with results that were resilient against the headwinds from autumn interest rate cuts and bode well for their peers, although the dividend and capital policies of the two Swedish banks contrasted.
SEB reopened the AT1 market on Thursday of last week (6 November), pricing a debut $1.1bn (Eu883m, Skr8.17bn) perpetual non-call 5.5 issue with a coupon of 5.75% in the first European bank AT1 supply since a deal for fellow Swede Nordea on 17 September.
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) is expected to launch its first Additional Tier 1 (AT1) issue shortly, in the US dollar market, after having begun a roadshow on Monday.
A solid start to the Nordic third quarter bank reporting season from Swedbank on Tuesday was built on by Handelsbanken and SEB, but Nordea fell short of consensus expectations, while in Norway DNB beat forecasts.
SEB priced a Eu1bn 12 year non-call seven Tier 2 issue last Thursday (22 May), which an official at the issuer noted is the first Swedish deal this year to feature a 12NC7 structure and was launched into a market that had lost some momentum.
The Nordic first quarter reporting season is well underway, with Danske today (Thursday) the latest to announce results. Mats Anderson, equity research analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, says that results have been marginally better than expected, boding well for the rest of the year.
S&P upgraded Danske and took rating actions on Swedish banks on Tuesday in connection with a raft of actions on European banks to reflect less assumed government support given new resolution frameworks, and also flagged plans to incorporate this into covered bond ratings.
SEB priced a $1.5bn (Eu1.09, Skr9.63bn) five year senior unsecured issue on Tuesday, with an official at the issuer noting a very strong response in terms of the volume and quality of demand.
Sweden’s Nordea was one of three issuers that reopened the FIG bond market after a week-and-a-half without supply on Monday, pricing a Eu1.25bn seven year senior unsecured deal. SEB followed suit on Wednesday with a Eu1bn deal, also in the “sweet spot” seven year maturity.