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On 7 May, Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) (AA-/Aa3/AA-) revealed plans for a self-led, benchmark Australian dollar denominated, senior-unsecured deal, expected to launch in the near future.

One of the main developments in the central-bank world in the decade since the financial crisis has been the emergence of a wider range of tools designed to complement the blunt instrument of rate moves. In a world where wages growth is the consistent economic laggard, perhaps it is time to explore macroprudential policy for wages.

The KangaNews Sustainable Debt Summit 2019 took place in Sydney on 18 March with a record number of delegates in attendance. The tone of discussion at the event has evolved in recent years, with the emphasis now much more clearly on delivery – the ‘how’ and ‘what’ as opposed to the ‘why’ of sustainable finance.

Athena Home Loans (Athena) is planning a multitrack approach to wholesale funding as it rolls out an ambitious plan to compete with the major banks for prime home-loan business. Public residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issuance is part of the strategy but Athena is also targeting funding via a mortgage fund and direct loan sales, to reach investors that do not participate in the securitisation market.

On 6 May, NEXTDC (NR) mandated National Australia Bank to arrange an increase to its existing June 2022 floating-rate note (FRN) transaction.

High-profile difficulties experienced by some issuers in Australia’s high-yield bond market have brought the value and distribution of such securities into question. Institutional market participants say there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the high-yield sector but argue that troubled transactions reaffirm the need for securities to be properly valued and appropriately distributed.

On 6 May, expected ratings were assigned by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings to Firstmac's potential residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) deal, Firstmac Mortgage Funding Trust No. 4 Series 2-2019 (Firstmac Series 2-2019). The deal has indicative total volume of A$500 million (US$348.8 million). ANZ, J.P. Morgan, National Australia Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, United Overseas Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank were mandated for the potential deal on 24 April.

While Australia’s major banks took advantage of record liquidity and competitive pricing in their home market in the first quarter of 2019, European bank issuance enjoyed an upswing of its own. European market sources say the positive environment has been supported by an economic backdrop that is neither as bad as it has been nor as good as it could be.

The first quarter of 2019 produced the highest volume of Australian big-four domestic senior funding since the financial crisis – without a commensurate uptick in deal quantity. Bank funders say the local market has deepened and become more reliable, but with funding tasks stabilising they also do not want to lose focus on offshore-market presence.

According to senior executives at MUFG Bank (MUFG), appetite for Australian assets from Japanese and Asian investors has shown no sign of slowing. The range of funding markets open to corporate Australia continues to expand as a result, with the burgeoning Samurai loan market a particular focus for the bank.

Updated

On 3 May, AMP Bank mandated ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, MUFG Securities and National Australia Bank to engage investors regarding a potential Australian dollar denominated residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction from the bank’s Progress programme.

There were only three transactions in the Australian market during the last few days of April and the first few days of May. In addition to a June 2029 Kangaroo tap by International Finance Corporation, Suncorp-Metway printed A$500 million (US$349.8 million) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Australlia Branch priced A$400 million in respective three- and one-year floating-rate note transactions.