Retail demand in New Zealand appears to be holding up in the last few weeks of the year with a clutch of corporate and finance company transactions – the majority not benefiting from the government’s guarantee on retail funding – which could raise up to NZ$825 million (US$437 million).
The Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No 5) Bill which will exempt overseas investors from interest withholding tax (IWT) on Australian state and territory debt was passed by the Senate on December 1 and is now expected to become law, following the formality of royal assent, in the week beginning December 15.
Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) have both confirmed they will assign a triple-A rating to issuance covered by the Australian government guarantee, paving the way to an anticipated return to the international markets of one or more Australian bank issuers in the coming days.
Last week a number of intermediaries caused a firestorm in Europe when they tried to unilaterally increase fees for supranational, sovereign and agency (SSA) issuers, based on changing business conditions for lead managers and new fees being paid by government-guaranteed banks which have entered the triple-A space.
