La Banque Postale is targeting September for an inaugural mortgage-backed covered bond issue, an official at the bank told The CBR, and is wrapping up rating agency discussions. Meanwhile, CIBC is deciding whether to pursue a deal this month or wait until early September.

La Banque Postale obtained approval for its covered bond plans from the French financial supervisory authority, Autorité de contrôle prudentiel (ACP), on 24 June, according to the official, who said that it has selected Standard & Poor’s to rate its covered bonds.

These will be obligations de financement de l’habitat (OH), backed by home loans, and issued by La Banque Postale Home Loan SFH (Société de Financement à l’Habitat).

“We expect a first issue in September if the market is favourable,” the official told The Covered Bond Report. “La Banque Postale is now finishing the discussion with the chosen rating agency, S&P. The cover pool characteristics will be published on our website during the summer.”

Natixis and UniCredit recently worked with the issuer on a roadshow.

The French bank first announced that it has plans to turn to covered bonds as a source of residential mortgage financing in October 2011, communicating this in a press release that was intended to correct rumours that La Banque Postale was working on setting up a covered entity for public sector lending. (See here for previous coverage.)

The confusion may have stemmed from La Banque Postale’s relationship with Société de Financement Local (SFIL), the parent company of Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil), the successor entity of Dexia Municipal Agency.

La Banque Postale has a 5% stake in SFIL, with Caffil issuance financing the bank’s new public sector loans business.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) finished a European roadshow on Friday, via Commerzbank, HSBC and RBS as well as CIBC. An update call is due to be held this evening, with some documentation matters still to be resolved, The Covered Bond Report understands.

If these are resolved then a deal could be launched in the second half of this week or early next, subject to market conditions, or otherwise postponed until early September. The bank is in blackout in August. Investors were told during the roadshow that the issuer is focussing on the five to seven year maturity range.