New Zealand

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is to start quantitative easing for the first time, it said on Thursday, while earlier this week the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) slashed rates and the New Zealand Treasury set out plans to increase its bond market borrowing.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) acted this week to protect their economies against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

JP Morgan has appointed two new co-heads of investment banking coverage for Australia and New Zealand, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

The World Bank is looking to New Zealand for a new five year. The deal will be its first bond in the Kauri market since January 2019.

Chorus, New Zealand’s largest fixed line telecoms business, launched a €300m no-grow seven year bond on Thursday — the only corporate euro issue of the day.

Adam Lavis, head of equities for Australia and New Zealand at Citi, is retiring from the bank after eight years.

Banco Sabadell and ASB Finance launched senior bonds in the euro market on Monday, with the former hitting the ‘sweet spot’ of investor appetite and the latter struggling to achieve the same level of demand as its Kiwi peer ANZ New Zealand had last week.

ANZ New Zealand was well received after opting for a longer maturity on its return to the euro senior market this week, welcoming €1.2bn of orders for its €500m 10 year.

Auckland Council appointed banks on Monday to arrange a roadshow for a euro benchmark with an intermediate to long maturity, in what will be its first bond in the currency since 2017

Following last Friday’s Asian Development Bank Kiwi dollar deal, the Inter-American Development Bank and International Finance Corporation both came to the Kauri market on Tuesday to tap a pair of mid-curve notes. With demand for mid-curve Kauri products high, bankers expect more issuers to follow as funding remains attractive for dollar-based borrowers.

The Asian Development Bank returned to the Kiwi dollar market to print its largest Kauri deal since January 2018 this week. With the Inter-American Development Bank and International Finance Corporation set to follow with a pair of taps in the coming days, bankers are expecting a busy few weeks in the market as investors react to the recent surprise interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Westpac New Zealand was able to steer its first green bond through the market on Tuesday, even as yields plummeted on the back of suggestions that the European Central Bank could be preparing new stimulus measures. The deal was the issuer’s first fixed rate senior bond in euros for over nine years.