In this week’s issue:
- EC stresses EU-specific factors to raise Level 1 LCR hopes
- DNB reopens Samurais for European banks, beats euro level
- Moody’s in negative SBAB review as CEO departs
- Sparebanken Vest pleased with result in hectic covered market
- Nordea gets corporate IRB OK from FSA
- Plus: Secondary market covered bond and senior unsecured spreads
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1. In association with
NORDIC FIs
& COVERED
INSIDE:
3 Moody’s in negative SBAB
review as CEO departs
4 Vest pleased in hectic mart;
Nordea in corporate IRB OK
5 Nordic euro FI spread data
Thursday, 16 January 2014
EC stresses EU-specific factors
to raise Level 1 LCR hopes
The European Commission will take
into account “features specific to the
EU banking system and financial markets” in addition to European Banking Authority (EBA) reports and international standards when deciding
on covered bonds’ status in the LCRs,
according to an EC spokesperson.
Confirming statements included in a
Bloomberg article published last Friday
(10 January), Chantal Hughes, spokesperson for the European Commission
(EC), Internal Market and Services,
told The Covered Bond Report that “the
Commission is aware of the crucial importance of the covered bond market”.
The comments were sought from the
Commission after the European Banking Authority (EBA) in December recommended against covered bonds being
treated as extremely high quality liquid
assets (Level 1 under Basel III) for the
purposes of Liquidity Coverage Ratio
(LCR) requirements in forthcoming EU
legislation, despite a technical analy-
sis it had conducted showing covered
bonds to be as liquid as government
bonds. Instead, the EBA’s report to
the Commission recommends covered
bonds as Level 2, high quality liquid
assets, only.
However, the final decision on covered bonds’ LCR status will be taken by
the Commission, by the end of June, a
fact noted by the Commission spokesperson in an e-mail to The CBR.
“The EBA recommendations do not
have any legal force of themselves,”
said Hughes (pictured above with
Commissioner Michel Barnier). “The
Commission will consider these recommendations when preparing the secondary legislation on liquidity coverage which it is required to adopt by 30
June 2014. This secondary legislation
should, inter alia, specify which assets
qualify as being of high and extremely
high liquidity/credit quality.
“When adopting that delegated act,
(continued on page 2)
Issue 66
DNB reopens Samurais
for European banks,
increases granularity
DNB is closing the first Samurai issue
for a European financial institution of
2014 tomorrow (Friday), a ¥81.6bn
(Eu573m, Nkr4.78bn) dual tranche
five year senior unsecured deal that
achieved far broader distribution than
the Norwegian bank’s last Samurai.
The issue has been split into a ¥78bn
fixed rate tranche and a ¥3.6bn FRN,
which leads Daiwa, Mizuho and Nomura
are pricing at the equivalent of Yen swap
offered plus 19bp.
A DCM official at one of the leads
said that the level was attractive, putting
the pricing 3bp-5bp tighter than DNB
would likely achieve on a new five year
fixed rate benchmark in euros. He said
that 2020 paper in euros was trading at
around 59bp mid and noted that Rabobank yesterday (Wednesday) priced a
Eu1.5bn five year benchmark at 63bp
over mid-swaps.
The division of the transaction into the
much larger fixed rate and smaller floating tranches was as expected, he added,
noting that DNB was also not interested
in shorter maturities and that the economics of longer dated issuance did not
make sense.
(continued on page 2)
Latest Nordic FI benchmarks
Senior unsecured (z spreads mid)
NYKRE*
SEB
SBAB
1.750%
2.000%
2.375%
01/19
03/18
09/20
75bp
57bp
70bp
Covered bonds (asw spreads mid)
NDASS
SPABOL
DNBNO
1.250%
1.500%
1.125%
01/19
01/20
11/18
6bp
19bp
9bp
*Secured. Source: CA-CIB trading 16/01/14
Page 1
2. Thursday, 16 January 2014
Issue 66
Danmarks Nationalbank suggests new derogation
(continued from page 1)
in accordance with Article 460(2) of
the Capital Requirements Regulation
(CRR), the Commission shall take into
account not just the reports submitted
by EBA and the international standards
but also features specific to the Union
banking system and financial markets.”
[Commission’s own emphasis.]
In recommending that covered
bonds not be Level 1 assets, the EBA
had stressed the “great importance” of
alignment with Basel Committee on
Banking Supervision rules.
The EBA’s recommendation was met
with dismay and frustration by covered
bond market participants in general, but
in Denmark the reaction was particularly strong and the EC spokesperson
mentioned the Danish case.
“The Commission also recognises the
long tradition and solidity of Danish
covered bonds, in particular, and their
good liquidity characteristics, even in
times of acute stress.
“This is also confirmed by the technical report of the European Banking
Authority.”
Danmarks Nationalbank has meanwhile said that it would strongly recommend permitting countries with a shortage of extremely high quality liquid
assets to allow more covered bonds in
Danmarks Nationalbank
LCRs as a new CRR derogation if they
are ultimately excluded from Level 1.
It took the position in a response released last Friday to an EBA consultation on derogations for currencies with
constraints on the availability of liquid
assets under Article 419(5) of the CRR
that was held from 22 October to 22
December and discussed measures that
can be taken by banks in countries such
as Denmark where there are insufficient
Level 1 assets.
Danmarks Nationalbank points out
that the two derogations already pro-
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Page 2
In association with
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posed have drawbacks for Denmark
with regard to the conduct of monetary policy and its currency peg towards the euro.
“The use of derogation A with foreign
denominated assets in the buffer is not
seen as an appropriate option, since it
introduces currency risk,” it said. “The
use of derogation B — credit lines
from the central bank — is not seen as
a viable solution either, since Denmark
maintains a fixed-exchange rate policy
vis-à-vis the euro area.”
The central bank instead proposed a
new derogation that would better accommodate the country’s needs.
“If Danish covered bonds are not classified as extremely liquid in the Commission’s delegated act, and if the Commission furthermore introduce a cap on
the amount of assets of high liquidity
and credit quality in the liquidity buffer,
we would strongly recommend the introduction of the third derogation in the
BCBS (Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision) to allow additional use of
assets of high liquidity and credit quality (e.g. certain covered bonds) in the
liquidity buffer,” it said.
“This third derogation could allow
banks to hold a more diversified liquidity buffer than mainly government bonds
and central bank reserves. Furthermore
the use of the derogation could assist in
breaking the link between governments
and banks.”
In its consultation response the Danish central bank also reiterated the
country’s position that covered bonds
should be eligible as Level 1 assets as
well as highlighting that this favoured
scenario remains a possibility.
“First of all, we would like to point
out that the results of the EBA’s empirical analysis across asset classes confirm
that some covered bonds achieve the
same average ranking as government
bonds,” it said. “We agree with this
analysis and see no reason to discriminate against such covered bonds based
on other criteria.”
“If this finding is taken into account
when the Commission decide on the
final definition of the LCR in June
2014, Denmark would no longer be
classified as a country with insufficient liquid assets.” n
3. Issue 66
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Moody’s in negative SBAB review as CEO departs
Moody’s placed the A2 rating of SBAB
Bank on review for downgrade on Tuesday, a day after the bank announced
the departure of its CEO, with the rating agency citing profitability and the
fate of new product offerings among
challenges facing the bank.
The rating agency said that its review
will primarily focus on analysis of the
Swedish bank’s likely future profitability
and the potential for its new products to
succeed in the Swedish banking market.
“Additionally, the review will focus
on the likelihood of systemic support for
SBAB’s subordinated debt given the clear
government indications of reduced support
but the difficulties in actually achieving
this in the more immediate term,” it said.
The Swedish government, SBAB’s sole
shareholder, has made clear its intention
to sell the bank, noted Moody’s.
SBAB on Wednesday said it will engage
with Moody’s within the next few months
with a view to resolving the review.
The rating action came after SBAB on
Monday announced the departure of its
chief executive, Carl-Viggo Östlund, given a difference of opinion between him
and the board about implementation of
the strategy in connection with, inter alia,
cost development at the bank.
Bo Magnusson, chairman of the SBAB
board, said that costs of implementing the
strategy have increased more than expected while a competitive mortgage market
is putting further pressure on margins and
capital and liquidity requirements have
increased.
“The situation requires that the strategy implementation is carried through
with an increased focus on cost efficiency
and balance sheet management,” he said.
“Given this, the Board of Directors concludes that SBAB needs a change of leadership. The process of finding a successor
is initiated promptly.”
In the interim, non-executive director
Per Anders Fasth is taking on the role of
acting CEO.
Moody’s said that its review for downgrade of SBAB reflects some of the same
concerns about profitability raised by the
bank’s board, but is not a direct response
to the change in management.
SBAB’s profitability has historically
been weak, and it is seeking to boost
this by diversifying its product range
and earnings, for example by increasing
deposit funding, according to Moody’s,
which said this action would be credit positive “if proved to be sustainably
profitable”.
“Whilst we view increased deposit
funding positively, SBAB currently pays
relatively high deposit rates compared to
other Swedish banks which casts doubt
on the long term stickiness of such deposits,” it said, “and the launch of new
products needs in Moody’s view, a longer
timeframe to prove their viability.”
The rating agency cited efforts to
lengthen the bank’s maturity profile as a
positive, but noted that the flipside of this
is that longer duration market funding is
likely to put pressure on net interest income in the short to medium term.
Continued weak profitability could
however, make the bank harder to sell and
may presage longer government involvement, which may support SBAB’s long
term ratings, said Moody’s.
Weak profitability is also a concern
from a capital standpoint, according to
Moody’s, which said that it could make
supporting capital levels difficult in a
stressed scenario and result in relatively
fast capital depletion.
“Whilst the ratings agency does not
currently anticipate such a scenario in
Sweden, SBAB’s sensitivity to such an
event is credit negative,” said Moody’s. n
DNB Samurai offers funding inside euro levels
(continued from page 1)
The deal is larger than DNB’s last
Samurai, which was a ¥65bn five year
issue launched in January 2012. The lead
banker also highlighted that distribution
was much more granular, with just two
investors having taken some ¥55bn of
the previous trade and the largest order
on the new issue accounting for less than
30% of the total. He noted that execution
of DNB’s last deal had been more complicated as it had come in the wake of a
crisis at Norway’s Eksportfinans, which
was not an issue this time around.
A total of 112 tickets were sold across
the two tranches, with placement having
increased in Tokyo, which took ¥50.9bn
of the fixed rate tranche, as well as elsewhere in Japan, which took ¥27.1bn.
City banks were allocated ¥30bn, trust
banks ¥0.6bn, specialised banks ¥2bn,
life insurance ¥9.2bn, property insurance
¥2bn, asset managers ¥7.1bn, regional
banks ¥7.9bn, Shinkins, etc ¥9.2bn, and
others ¥10bn.
Thor Tellefsen, senior vice president
and head of long term funding at DNB,
told Nordic FIs & Covered that the transaction is part of the bank’s regular funding business, coming on top of its debut
Samurai to ensure the issuer maintains
access to its Japanese investor base.
The lead banker said that although a
couple of other European names are
looking at the Samurai market there
is no concrete pipeline. He added that,
with DNB’s peers going into blackout,
the next trades are more likely to emerge
in late February or March. n
Page 3
4. Thursday, 16 January 2014
Issue 66
Vest pleased with result in hectic covered market
Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt sold
a Eu500m no-grow five year covered
bond on Thursday of last week (9
January), having seen “no reason to
wait” to tap the market early in the
year given strong market conditions,
an official at the issuer told Nordic
FIs & Covered.
The Norwegian covered bond company priced the deal at 10bp over midswaps, which compares with a re-offer
spread of 12bp for a Eu500m five year it
sold in early September.
Leads Commerzbank, HSBC, Nordea
and UniCredit built an order book of
around Eu850m for Sparebanken Vest’s
latest issue, after having initially marketed it at 10bp-12bp over.
More than 60 accounts took part. Germany took 44%, the Nordics 24%, the
Benelux 10%, central and eastern Europe 8%, Austria 5%, Switzerland 3%,
Asia 3%, and others 3%. Banks were allocated 54%, central banks and agencies
28%, funds and insurance companies
14%, and corporates 4%.
Sparebanken Vest’s deal was one of
three new covered bonds in the market
that day which took last week’s supply
Nordea gets corporate
IRB OK from FSA
Nordea has received approval to apply
the advanced internal ratings-based
(IRB) approach to its corporate exposures in the Nordic region, which
will boost its pro forma Q3 2013 Core
Tier 1 capital ratio by 0.7 percentage points, the bank said yesterday
(Wednesday).
The Swedish Financial Supervisory
Authority (FSA), in agreement with the
other three Nordic FSAs, gave the green
light on Tuesday, according to Nordea.
“This approval will affect Nordea’s
core Tier 1 capital ratio due to lower
risk-weighted assets as well as higher
Core Tier 1 capital,” it said. “The pro
forma Q3 2013 impact on the Core Tier
1 capital ratio is calculated at approximately 0.7 percentage points.”
The bank previously stated its pro format Q3 2013 Core Tier 1 ratio as being
15%-16%, and said this is confirmed by
Monday’s approval. n
Page 4
Egil Mokleiv, managing director,
Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt
to Eu8.5bn across nine issues. The other issuers were Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, which priced a Eu1bn five
year at 18bp over, and Credit Suisse,
with a Eu1.25bn seven year at 13bp over.
Egil Mokleiv, managing director,
Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt, said
that the new issue had been planned for
some time.
“In early September we did a deal and
before that we did substantial investor
work with very good feedback, so we
figured we could capitalise on our market
activity in the second half of 2013 by going out relatively early this year,” he said.
A positive start to new issuance in
2014 encouraged the issuer to make its
move when it did, according to Mokleiv.
“Investors seemed quite ready to invest so we found no reason to wait and
just had to find the right day,” he said.
“It seems to have worked out and we are
happy with that.
“The spread is quite satisfactory and
we are glad to see that it is possible to
place a Eu500m no-grow in a hectic
market at quite a good margin.”
2014 is the first year that Sparebanken
Vest will tap the capital markets for some
major refinancing, according to Mokleiv,
with the issuer having until now mostly having raised new funding since its
creation in 2008. Refinancing in 2014 is
only for Norwegian krone transactions,
he said, with the issuer’s first public euro
transaction, sold in 2010, maturing in
June 2015.
Additional funding needs are lower than
in the past given slower growth in the Norwegian banking sector, he added. n
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