Westpac

Macquarie issued its inaugural covered bond on Thursday, meeting a strong reception with the five year €500m paper twice subscribed by investors. Westpac has also opened books on a $1.35bn deal, as Fitch said it expects Australian covered bond issuance to rise this year.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) issued a five year Aussie dollar floater on Wednesday, attracting strong demand from Australian and Asian investors.

A $975m refinancing for India’s Reliance Industries has opened for general syndication via 13 mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Westpac New Zealand launched an eight year Swiss franc deal on Friday, making it the second international issuer in the market this week.

Westpac NZ launched a sterling senior bond on Wednesday and Santander UK will soon follow with a debut holdco deal, as FIG's first signs of life in 2016 favour the UK market.

Westpac

Westpac

Market participants believe the FIG primary market has seen its last deal of the year, with banks now positioning themselves for the busy January supply window and next week’s expected US rate hike.

Activity in the covered bond market had been expected to slow down but instead it has been surprisingly busy this week, with as many as three euro benchmarks surfacing over the first three days.

Westpac was set to print its second foreign currency deal in as many days on Tuesday, but some bankers said the borrower ran into difficulties in euros.

Westpac looked to the sterling market for a seven year senior deal on Monday, as the number of redemptions in the UK currency swells towards the end of the year.

BoC Aviation has increased its latest borrowing to $500m after banks from across Asia poured into the transaction.