Settled outstandings under CBPP3 increased Eu2.516bn last week, ECB figures released yesterday (Monday) indicated, with the increase comprising only secondary market purchases given a lack of primary market issuance in the corresponding period.

Purchases settled and outstanding under the ECB’s third covered bond purchase programme as of Friday were Eu2.516bn higher than a week previously, taking the total volume to Eu69.666bn, up from Eu67.150bn.

With outstandings having increased by Eu2.480bn in the previous week, analysts noted that the pace of purchases had increased despite there being no primary market deals settling in the latest week.

Analysts at Crédit Agricole calculated that daily settlements came in last week at Eu503m per day, after Eu620m in the previous week, which was a shortened four day trading week. The overall daily CBPP3 purchases average meanwhile is Eu601m, they said.

“However, we are talking about only secondary buying and taking that into account the Eu503m are slightly above the long term average of Eu490m for secondary market settlements,” said Florian Eichert, senior covered bond analyst at Crédit Agricole. “We are thus still waiting for the first signs of the CBPP3 finding it harder to buy bonds in the market.”

Four CBPP3-eligible deals settle this week – three Eu500m new issues from Deutsche Hypothekenbank, La Banque Postale and NIBC, and a Eu500m tap from Helaba – totalling Eu2bn.

“The CBPP3 participation in these four deals is around Eu410m (on average 21% of issue volumes) according to our estimates,” said Eichert. “We should thus be moving closer to a Eu3bn increase again.”