Credit Suisse announced a consent solicitation today (Monday), offering investors 5bp to allow it to make seven outstanding covered bonds soft bullets, bringing the bulk of its issuance into line with its most recent benchmark, which was a soft bullet from the outset.

Soft bullets are the norm in many markets and issuers have been moving into the format in several markets where it is not, citing a lack of pricing differentiation between the two structures. In the Netherlands, ING recently established a soft bullet programme alongside its existing, hard bullet programme, while the Swedish Covered Bond Corporation issued the first soft bullet covered bond from Sweden.

Commenting on SCBC’s move, Moody’s noted that the issuance of only one soft bullet by SCBC affected its assessment of the programme “only marginally”.

Credit Suisse’s last benchmark, a Eu1.25bn seven year priced on 11 September was a soft bullet, but prior to that its issuance had been in hard bullet format. Seven issues are targeted in the consent solicitation, six in euros and one dollar benchmark.

“Credit Suisse AG continually reviews regulatory and market developments, as an active participant in the covered bond market,” it said. “The Proposed Amendments align the terms and conditions of the older outstanding series with those of the most recently issued series 9 to ensure ongoing cost efficiency of this funding programme.”

The Swiss bank is offering investors who vote in favour of the resolution a fee of 0.05% of their principal amount. The voting deadline is 11 December, with a meeting scheduled for 16 December.