Caffil and Hamburger Sparkasse today (Monday) announced the first euro benchmark mandates of February and are each set to extend their curves as early as tomorrow, with the French issuer planning a €750m no-grow 20 year and the German a €500m no-grow eight year.

Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil) has mandated Barclays, Citi, LBBW, Natixis and NordLB for what will be its first benchmark of the year. Its last euro benchmark was its inaugural green covered bond, a €750m 10 year issued in November at 2bp over mid-swaps.

So far this year only Crédit Agricole Italia has issued a longer dated euro benchmark than Caffil’s, with the Italian subsidiary of the French group having issued a €750m 25 year on 9 January as part of a dual-tranche trade.

A syndicate banker at one of the leads said the issuer and leads are monitoring the market with a view to launching sometime later in the week, if not tomorrow.

“It’s quite an interesting project,” he said, “and the longer maturity fits their business model, especially in the current spread and yield conditions.”

According to pre-announcement comparables circulated by the leads, the French public sector issuer’s June 2038s were at 2.5bp over mid-swaps, mid.

The 20 year transaction will extend the SFIL subsidiary’s curve beyond the June 2038s, which when issued as a 20 year in June 2018 were the issuer’s longest-dated benchmark yet.

Maureen Schuller, head of financials research at ING, noted that the offering should give investors the chance to buy a covered bond yielding more than 30bp, with the 20 year swap rate seen at around 0.30% this morning. She said the mandate confirms this year’s focus on the long end, with “an exceptionally high” 44% of January’s €29bn of supply having a maturity of 10 years or longer.

Hamburger Sparkasse AG (Haspa) also today announced plans to approach the market in the near future, for a €500m no-grow eight year mortgage Pfandbrief, via BayernLB, DekaBank, Deutsche and UniCredit.

The deal is set to be first euro benchmark for Germany’s largest savings bank since June 2018 and its longest since it returned to the benchmark market in 2016 after a long absence. Haspa issued €500m deals of five to seven years in 2016 to 2018.

ApoBank issued the most recent German benchmark, a €500m no-grow nine year mortgage Pfandbrief on Thursday that was priced at 1bp through mid-swaps and a yield of minus 0.084%.