ING Bank was happy to be one of the first into the covered bond market this year, according to an official at the issuer, with the Dutch bank pricing a Eu1.75bn 10 year benchmark at 110bp over mid-swaps yesterday (Tuesday).

Martin Nijboer, head of long term funding at ING, told The Covered Bond Report that it was good to have been one of the first to hit the market.

“It’s a bit weird that the first two weeks are always so busy after there is nothing in the last two months of the year,” he said. “But with the closed period coming along soon you only have two or three weeks when you can issue.

“And if you look at the market today, we wouldn’t have wanted to be in the market with five other deals. It is also better to set the curve than to have to follow.”

The issue was priced at 110bp over mid-swaps, in the middle of guidance, which market participants said represented a new issue premium of some 15bp.

“You can argue if the right level is 5bp more or less,” said Nijboer. “But finding the rough level wasn’t that difficult given the last deals of the year in December – the taps for Barclays and Crédit Agricole – and with CRH and UBS already soft-sounding on Monday.

“It would have been nice to have been able to offer a 3.5% coupon,” he added, “but swaps went down 5bp yesterday and that didn’t help.”

Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, ING and JP Morgan built a book of over Eu1.6bn.

The deal attracted 127 orders. Germany was allocated 59% of the bonds, the Netherlands 11%, France 13%, and Nordics 8%.

Nijboer said that buying for the ECB’s covered bond purchase programme (CBPP2) accounted for around 10% of the final amount.

“It was nice to have, but it was not as if we needed it,” he said. “It made the difference between a Eu1.5bn and a Eu1.75bn deal, but Eu1.5bn would still have been a very successful outcome.”

A market participant had suggested that a Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat 10 year issue coming out on the same morning as ING could have cannibalised demand for the Dutch paper.

“We were not concerned about CRH even if there is, of course, some overlap,” said Nijboer. “And it was easier than it would have been with the competing supply today.”

CRH’s issue was priced 50bp wider than ING’s and one syndicate official said that this reflected the different levels of the respective sovereigns, with Dutch government debt having remained relatively immune from the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis.

Nijboer said that Dutch issuers should also find the senior unsecured market accommodating, noting that Rabobank and ABN Amro have been among the first names to have accessed that market this year, alongside Nordea.

“I have a lot of confidence that the senior market will be open for issuers from the Netherlands and the Nordics,” he said.

The Netherlands’ SNS Bank held a roadshow in December ahead of a planned benchmark early this year through DZ Bank, Natixis, Rabobank and RBS.