DORE Both markets remain important for World Bank, ranking consistently in the top five currencies of issuance. The bank has adopted a strategy of not accessing these markets frequently but instead focusing on bringing more liquid trades to market. This has worked well for World Bank and investors.

World Bank had a very good funding year in the New Zealand market in 2020, issuing almost NZ$3 billion (US$2 billion). This exceeded the bank’s issuance in the New Zealand market in the previous two years combined and what we raised in the Australian market during the same period.

In April this year, World Bank executed its largest seven-year bond – NZ$1 billion, a remarkable milestone. This is the largest bond issued in that tenor by an SSA. The first-ever World Bank Kauri trade in 2007 was a seven-year NZ$350 million bond – considered a very large trade at the time. It took more than a decade for the bank to get to the NZ$1 billion mark in seven-year tenor.

World Bank also executed a very successful Australian dollar dual-tranche bond in 2020 – a long-dated five-year A$1.1 billion (US$788 million) and a 10-year A$550 million. This was the bank’s largest-ever Australian dollar deal and the largest for the SSA sector in the Kangaroo market in a single outing.

World Bank has always had tremendous support from domestic investors in both the Australian and New Zealand markets, for which we are very thankful. Currently, we are working on the documentation for IDA [International Development Association] and we hope to bring IDA to the Australian and New Zealand markets next year.

KREIVI Yes and no. It is true so far in 2021 we have more than tripled our issuance in the Kangaroo market compared with 2020. But there is also push and pull, because last year the asset-swap levels were not attractive and the basis-swap level was also not helpful. As a result, there was not much issuance from any SSA in 2020.

This year, asset-swap and basis-swap levels have changed for the better and we have issued almost A$4 billion so far in 2021. Two-thirds of this has been in green or sustainable product. Investors in Australia really appreciate these labelled bonds and we get better onshore participation with these products than with normal bonds.

This has created a nice dialogue between EIB and Australian investors, which was lost for many years. For a while, Australian investors seemed wary of European names. Sustainable issuance has been the bridge we have been building to return to good dialogue with Australian investors. The volume shows the level of interest.

WEHLERT Definitely. The market has been better this year compared with 2020. Part of the reason is that nearly half the volume has been in the green space, where we have a very large transaction outstanding.

The volume increase is also due to the investors behind the deals. I always look at onshore versus offshore – and we have seen new investors in both sectors. This is particularly true for offshore, where we have seen new investors with sizeable tickets.

This year we have also done a sizeable EMTN deal in Australian dollars to meet demand from some investors outside Australia. Like World Bank, we also did a seven-year transaction in New Zealand dollars – our longest maturity in this currency. It was the first time we had issued in the Kauri market since 2018.

Overall, the region has improved a lot this year compared with last year. Another reason is that spreads have been interesting – especially at the short end – and this attracts investors.

KETTING We have a successful track record in Australian dollars with long, liquid lines. We have a different approach from other SSAs, whereby we start with smaller amounts and then tap them frequently in small size. It all adds up, so now we have lines with more than A$1 billion outstanding.

We had quite a successful year in the Kangaroo market in 2020, printing more than A$1 billion. This year, we have issued A$650 million, focusing on longer duration. Currently, levels are not that attractive in the long end. Also, Japanese demand has been slower – or at least focused on the 2024-25 space.

Every deal holds a balance between what we need and what investors want. We try to be as flexible as possible as we are in the market for the long run. But we rely on the basis swap as we have to swap everything back to euros.

KOTAMRAJU It was a combination of factors. New Zealand and Australian dollars have been a consistent part of our programme for a number of years. By introducing the gender theme this year, we saw very strong support from the domestic investor base – it really resonated with them, including new investors.

It has definitely been a record year for us – we have issued just more than NZ$2 billion so far, compared with NZ$925 million in 2020.

CHAO The market has been quite conducive this year. We have issued A$1.275 billion in the Kangaroo market from the beginning of July to mid-September. We have tapped some existing, older lines – related to the confluence of the basis swap working well and investor interest.

In March 2020, we issued a 15-year Australian dollar social bond. Since then, we have tapped it 12 times and the line is at A$1 billion.

We see across-the-curve demand in Australian dollars – with the buying programme of Treasuries at the shorter end we have been able to issue shorter-end Australian dollars. We haven’t been able to do much of this in the past.

We are very happy to see Australian dollars working. It is important to keep a presence there because of the domestic investors. We want to make sure we have a curve and that we are active. We have north of A$11 billion outstanding in the Kangaroo market. Historically, we have always had outstanding volume in the A$10 billion range. This is quite important for us.