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ANZ Banking Group (ANZ)'s results for the half-year to the end of March 2014, released on May 1, paint a picture of stability in terms of capital, funding and liquidity. Meanwhile, the bank attributes a small reduction in year-on-year income from the Australian arm of its global markets business to specific headwinds in the fixed-income market.
On April 30, Emirates NBD (Baa1/A+) priced a five-year Australian dollar deal. The transaction is the new borrower's first Kangaroo deal since a merger between Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai in 2007. The merger created the largest bank in the six Arab Gulf states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – the Middle East and North Africa, with assets of US$45 billion.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) opened a consultation period on its latest proposals for a simplified Australian securitisation regime on April 29. The regulator revealed at the same time that it plans to consult the market on the regime again in 2015 and is targeting implementation in 2016.
New Zealand's opposition Labour Party proposed a raft of new economic measures on April 29, including changes to the KiwiSaver savings scheme to make it – like its Australian equivalent – compulsory for paid employees. The system currently operates on a voluntary opt-in basis, and KiwiSaver data says just fewer than 2.3 million New Zealanders, or roughly half the population, were members by March this year.
On April 28, Investec Bank Australia (Investec Australia) announced an offer to buy back the outstanding balance of its December 2014 and March 2015 maturity government-guaranteed bond lines. The indicative repurchase price for the borrower's fixed-rate December 2014 notes is 10 basis points below swap. Investec Australia is also offering to repurchase its March 2015 floating-rate paper at 10 basis points below three-month bank bill swap (BBSW) rate.
A brace of public holidays in Australia prompted an expected slow week in the local capital market. Only one Kangaroo deal priced during the week, alongside a handful of rating actions.
Provisional ratings have been assigned to Cuscal's new Australian dollar residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issue. The transaction, Integrity Series 2014-1 Trust, has an indicative volume of A$698.5 million (US$648.9 million) across four tranches according to a preliminary ratings report.
On April 24, Rentenbank (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced a new 12-year Kangaroo line. According to KangaNews data, Rentenbank most recently visited the Australian dollar market on March 25 this year with a A$125 million (US$117.1 million) tap to its 2024 line. That deal had pricing of 65.5 basis points over Australian government bond.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) raised the official cash rate (OCR) – by 25 basis points, to 3.00 per cent – for the second time in two rates decisions on April 24. Analyst commentary following the decision focuses on the downside developments which have been added to RBNZ commentary, but the clear expectation remains that further hikes will follow including at the next rates decision in June.
Australian deal flow showed no sign of slowing on the lead up to the Easter long weekend. Securitisaion flow resumed with three new RMBS deals from Liberty Financial, AFG Securities and Pepper Australia. Meanwhile the World Bank priced the first-ever Kangaroo green bond, designed to fund projects targeted at climate change issues which directly affect developing countries.
Issuer, investor and intermediary participants in the Australian domestic market's first-ever green bond transaction say the product is not simply one for specialist socially responsible investment (SRI) portfolios. In fact, the growth of sustainability targets across the Australian investment landscape – especially in the industry superannuation funds sector – is driving widespread excitement about the prospects for the green-bond asset class.
Pepper Australia (Pepper) priced a US and Australian dollar issue on April 17. The deal was upsized to a final A$500 million (US$467.9 million) equivalent from a provisional total volume of A$402.5 million equivalent.