Santander Consumer Bank AG, a German unit of the Spanish group, and Südwestbank, a commercial bank focussed on Baden-Württemberg, are in a regulatory position to issue mortgage Pfandbriefe after having received the necessary licences from BaFin in the past month.

The Santander group in January 2011 acquired the German retail business of SEB AG. Santander Consumer Bank received its Pfandbrief licence from the German regulator earlier this month.

Germany will be just the latest jurisdiction in which Santander has a covered bond presence: alongside its home market of Spain, the group has issued in countries including Portugal via Santander Totta, the UK via the former Abbey National, Chile via Banco Santander Chile, and has also been working on an obligations foncières programme in France for export credit agency business.

Südwestbank, a regional commercial bank based in Stuttgart, yesterday (Wednesday) announced that it had received a Pfandbrief licence on 25 August and plans to begin issuing Pfandbriefe next spring, initially in registered format. The bank had total assets of Eu7.101bn as of the end of 2015.

Photo: Südwestbank