Santander Consumer Bank is one of five German financial institutions that analysts at HSBC today (Friday) said are “in the starting blocks” for covered bonds in 2012, while Natixis Pfandbriefbank has joined the vdp and Finland’s Ålandsbanken is also progressing towards a debut.

The analysts said that they expect Nassauischen Sparkasse (Naspa), Natixis Pfandbriefbank, Santander Consumer Bank, Sparkasse Dinslaken and Sparkasse Oberhausen to launch debut Pfandbrief issues this year, with the banks all in the process of preparing programmes.

Santander Consumer Bank is a 100% subsidiary of Spain’s Banco Santander. It acquired the German retail business of SEB AG in January 2011 including a mortgage loan portfolio of almost Eu7bn.

The issuer said last year that it was applying for a licence to issue German mortgage Pfandbriefe and to issue Pfandbriefe frequently.

Natixis Pfandbriefbank joined the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks on 1 March. The new subsidiary of the French bank announced its plans in January. It will be issuing against a cover pool of commercial mortgages.

Noting that 30 new covered bond issuers had come to market in 2011, HSBC’s analysts also cited Finland’s Ålandsbanken as a 2012 debutant. Its group treasurer last August told The Covered Bond Report that the bank was preparing to issue and it finalised a Eu1bn EMTN and covered bond programme in December. Ålandsbanken launched a Eu100m two year floating rate note this week, but it was a senior unsecured issue rather than a covered bond.