Sweden

Sweden is preparing to issue a two year dollar bond in what is likely one of the final syndicated deals from eurozone sovereigns this year.

By offering a hefty pick-up over national champions, Bluestep Bank, a Swedish non-standard mortgage lender, attracted a hefty order book for the second deal from its newly established covered bond platform this week.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, September 28. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services

Svenska Handelsbanken found tight pricing for a dual offering of additional tier one (AT1) notes on Tuesday. It became the first European bank to set a dollar AT1 coupon of less than 4.5% for one of its tranches.

Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ) mandated leads for its first dollar covered bond in a year on Monday. The issuer joins Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, which on Monday crystallised plans to press ahead with its debut deal following a period of soft marketing, while Swedish non-conforming lender Bluestep Bank commenced marketing on Monday.

Swedish Export Credit Corporation took full advantage of the quiet SSA market to print a three year dollar benchmark on Wednesday. Ontario Teachers Finance Trust is set to follow on Thursday.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2020 funding programmes in mid-September.

Sweden's financial supervisor has extended its application of a risk weight floor on domestic mortgages, a measure that will help to protect senior debt by forcing banks to run with higher capital positions.

DNB Boligkreditt did not waste any time waiting to tap its covered bond first issued last week, raising a further Skr500m on Thursday in order to capitalise on the attractiveness of the Swedish krona compared with other currencies.

Sweden’s long gestating green bond debut came to fruition this week as the sovereign scooped Skr20bn ($2.3bn) at a discount to its conventional curve.

Following a series of investor calls, Sweden has announced the tenor of its debut green bond, which is expected to be issued early next week through syndication.

DNB issued a Swedish krona covered bond on Thursday in a size large enough to qualify for the best treatment under the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and at a more competitive funding level than was available elsewhere. The deal was issued amid renewed hope that Nordic issuers will stay active in euro covered bonds this year.