Canada

Toronto–Dominion Bank’s (TD) €1.75bn five year covered bond, which was issued on Wednesday, was priced 13bp tighter than where it might have launched in January when five other Canadian borrowers entered the market with similar deals.

The dollar market is expected to provide just a handful of deals this week, with a benchmark for the Province of Quebec and a short dated floater for Eurofima up first.

Canadian regulator Carolyn Rogers has been appointed as the next secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, replacing William Coen.

Guarantor: Canada

The SSA euro market’s record start to the year shows no signs of slowing down, with bankers confident that the conditions which have helped draw record book after record book are here to stay. That backdrop helped Export Development Canada (EDC) to an excellent debut in the currency, as well as a very strong trade from the veteran European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Dollar swap spreads tightened dramatically in the middle of the week — with bankers at a loss to explain why — but the SSA sector was still “rock solid” in one syndicate head’s words, so the currency should be open for business next week. The only two dollar trades this week — a bond market return from CDP Financial and first deal of the year from Erste Abwicklungsanstalt — both went well.

Guarantor: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)

Export Development Canada made light work of its debut euro benchmark on Wednesday, with the deal heavily oversubscribed and printed 3bp tighter than price thoughts. While applauding the deal, some on-looking SSA bankers felt the level on offer might have been slightly generous — although they admitted that fair value is always fuzzy on an inaugural trade.

Export Development Canada mandated banks on Tuesday for its inaugural euro benchmark, despite the euro/dollar basis swap having moved against euro issuance since the start of year, according to bankers.

Canada’s Barrick Gold has launched an almost $18bn hostile swoop on rival Newmont on Monday, as the wave of consolidation in the gold sector reaches new heights.

Sparebanken 1 Boligkreditt’s (Spabol) 10 year has the highest covered bond mark of all deals issued by any bank outside the eurozone this year on GC BondMarker. SEB issued the highest scoring Swedish deal and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) issued the best ranking Canadian covered bond this year.

One of the biggest snowstorms to hit Ottawa in years could not stop Export Development Canada printing its largest ever deal this week, alongside a record three year book for the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a very healthy Bank of England (BoE) dollar deal.