Moody’s upgraded the covered bonds of Eika Boligkreditt to Aaa yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, after assigning the Norwegian issuer a first public rating last week, with the covered bond rating no longer constrained by the programme’s committed OC.

On Friday, Moody’s assigned a public issuer rating to Eika Boligkreditt for the first time, rating it Baa1 on stable outlook and assigning it a Counterparty Risk (CR) assessment of A3.

Moody’s said the ratings reflect its view of the credit profiles of the 72 individual banks that form the Eika alliance and together own Eika Boligkreditt, as well as its assessment of the likelihood that these banks would provide support to the credit institution if required.

The rating agency then upgraded the covered bonds of Eika Boligkreditt from Aa1 to Aaa yesterday. It said that following the assignment of the A3 CR assessment, it now gives full value to uncommitted overcollateralisation (OC).

The programme holds sufficient uncommitted OC to achieve the new Aaa rating. The Aa1 covered bond rating had previously been constrained by the level of committed OC.