Opinions among bankers as to how soon ANZ will launch a debut, US dollar issue were mixed this (Monday) morning. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has meanwhile mandated a euro benchmark [updated 1400 London time].

CBA this afternoon appointed BNP Paribas, CBA, HSBC and RBS as joint leads for a potential euro covered bond, subject to market conditions.

ANZ on Friday – a holiday in the US – announced that it is targeting a five year dollar trade that could be the first Australian covered bond.

“ANZ is expected to come today at the earliest,” said a syndicate official. “I think they will see how the market in the US opens.

“I don’t see why they would wait to move because they should receive strong demand,” he added.

Another syndicate banker also said he would be surprised if ANZ did not open order books today given that it had on Friday announced it would be pursuing a deal, while another said he expected the issuer to follow up on its announcement with more formal preparations for a deal, and that this could emerge tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday, depending on market conditions.

“I don’t think it’s for today,” he said, adding that while ANZ is not dependent on developments in Greece and Italy, the changes of government in these countries may mean that the issuer will wait for markets to settle more after fully responding to these moves.

A syndicate official had on Friday suggested ANZ would come in the 115bp-120bp over mid-swaps range, and another syndicate banker this morning said he had heard this was a level expected by US investors, although he would put a five year issue tighter, in the 100bp-110bp over range.

He said that “it would be a bit of a shame” if ANZ came at around 120bp in the sense that it would be a cheap level, with many market participants expecting Australian covered bonds to price flat to inside Nordic supply. A $1.5bn five year Nordea Eiendomskreditt covered bond from 15 September was trading at around 95bp over, he said, while a National Bank of Canada five year issue sold in October was around the 65bp market last week.

“But you never know for an inaugural,” he said.