Belgium’s Belfius Bank will on Wednesday embark on a capital markets roadshow that is expected to have covered bonds on its agenda, with the issuer putting the final touches to a programme in anticipation of royal decrees being ready at the end of the month, The Covered Bond Report understands.

The bank has mandated Belfius, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Natixis, Nomura, Rabobank and UniCredit for a roadshow that will start on Wednesday, according to a syndicate official at one of the mandated banks.

Belfius is the new brand for what were Dexia’s Belgian bank and insurance operations. The syndicate official said given that the issuer is a new name in the capital markets its roadshow will take in “the whole nine yards” of issuance formats rather than being covered bond-specific.

The Covered Bond Report understands that the bank is close to finalising a covered bond programme, but that it cannot wrap it up until two royal decrees, on eligibility and valuation criteria and the cover pool administrator, among other things, are issued. This is expected to happen at the end of September.

Other pending steps on the way to issuing covered bonds include obtaining covered bond issuer and programme licences from the National Bank of Belgium.

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