Swedbank Hypotek reopened the sterling covered bond market after two months without benchmark supply on Wednesday, and although the FRN was priced 10bp wider than preceding deals an official at the issuer said the sterling market still offered attractive funding.

Swedbank Hypotek dispensed with the 144A format it previously used for dollar-denominated issuance when it launched a $1bn (Eu883m, Skr8.23bn) five year Reg S issue on Wednesday, with flexibility cited as a reason for the move.

Moody’s has upgraded Swedbank because it considers that the bank’s credit profile has strengthened, and Fitch revised the outlook on Danske Bank from negative to stable due to lower risk from its Ireland exposure.

Swedbank and Sveriges Riksbank came out as winners in The Covered Bond Report’s inaugural Awards for Excellence, which were announced on Tuesday, while Stadshypotek was highly commended.

LF Hypotek returned to the public euro covered bond market for the first time in nearly two years on Monday, selling a three times subscribed Eu500m seven year deal that was priced close to recent transactions by its larger peers, including Swedbank Mortgage last week.

Swedbank launched its first euro benchmark covered bond since August 2011 today (Thursday), a Eu1bn seven year issue that attracted strong demand, with the leads taking a cautious approach to execution but able to tighten the spread after a “catchy” opening, said a banker on the deal.