The success of new euro benchmark covered bonds for CCF, CIBC and SEB today (Tuesday) suggests issuers can target similar outcomes to those achieved before the Trump administration’s tariff moves destabilised markets, according to syndicate bankers, after Iccrea restarted supply yesterday.

The new transactions were smoothly executed, tightened 6bp-8bp, with issuers happy to take greater size.

“Everything has still been around five years, which is a sweet-spot for investors,” said a syndicate banker involved in today’s supply. “Scarcity played in favour of the Canadian and Swedish projects, but even a relatively small, private equity-owned French name worked very well in this environment.

“So everything is working very well, nobody is overpaying, and they have access to size despite paying very little NIP. That should push people to look at the market.”

Another banker said the market has rediscovered its resilience very quickly.

“The tailwind just comes from the fact that the market has gotten to grips with most of the nonsense coming out of the White House, and they haven’t produced anything significantly new over the last couple of days, at least,” he said. “This allows new transactions to work again under what you could call the new normal.

“So let’s make use of this period of relative calmness. This, I think, is how many potential issuers may be looking at things – you don’t know when the next round of madness is going to be triggered.”

Indeed, further benchmark supply is deemed possible tomorrow (Wednesday) ahead of 1 May public holidays across Europe. However, only a mandate for a sub-benchmark covered bond had been officially announced today: Oberösterreichische Landesbank (HYPO Oberösterreich) is set to launch a €250m no-grow short seven year (March 2032) mortgage Pfandbrief via Danske, Erste, LBBW and Helaba.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken(SEB) leads Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, ING, Natixis and SEB opened books this morning with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 38bp area for a euro benchmark-sized May 2030 covered bond, expected rating Aaa. After around an hour, the leads reported books above €1.75bn, including €75m of joint lead manager interest, and after around two hours and 10 minutes, they set the spread at 32bp and the size at €1bn (Skr11bn) on the back of books above €2bn. The final book was above €1.8bn, including the €75m of JLM interest.

“There has been a fair bit out of the Nordics,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads, “but there’s been limited supply out of Sweden and nothing from SEB since 2023, meaning there were unused lines for the name.”

SEB’s last euro benchmark was a €1.5bn long five year in February 2023.

“There could have been a bit of an impact from the CIBC on the SEB, because, after all, it was 10bp cheaper for something that is not too far from SEB,” added the lead banker, “but we were testing the low 30s, which is as tight as things came pre-tariffs, and still had extremely strong execution.”

He noted that the spread was inside a €1bn 5.25 year printed by OP Mortgage Bank, at 33bp, on 2 April, before “Liberation Day”, while close to the 30bp level achieved by DNB Boligkreditt with a €1.5bn 4.5 year on 20 March. Pre-announcement comparables circulated by the leads put the Norwegian paper was at 31bp, while SCBC February 2030s – printed at 34bp on 17 February – and LF Hypotek March 2030s issued last year were at 32bp, implying a new issue premium of up to 1bp, according to syndicate bankers at and away from the leads.

“When you put everything together,” added the lead banker, “the issuer didn’t pay one more bip than what they would have if they had done the trade earlier. And the quality of the order book and convincing outcome are a testament to the SEB name.”

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) leads CIBC, Commerzbank, DZ, HSBC, ING and Natixis opened books with guidance of the 48bp area for a euro benchmark-sized May 2030 covered bond, expected ratings Aaa/AAA (Moody’s/Fitch). After around an hour and a quarter, they reported books above €2bn, including €125m of JLM interest, and after around two-and-a-half hours, the spread was set at 41bp and the size at €1.25bn (C$1.97bn) on the back of books above €3bn.

“If you look at how the deal developed and how it ended, it was a very successful transaction,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads. “Moving 7bp from start to finish, with no intermediate step, the €1.25bn size – which I understand was the maximum they could do – and they got the tightest possible price, with zero concession.”

The leads put fair value at 41bp based on the secondary levels of CIBC’s last euro benchmark, a €1.25bn five year issued in September 2024, and the last Canadian euro benchmark, a €1.5bn five year issued by Royal Bank of Canada at 40bp in January.

After a mandate announcement yesterday (Monday), CCF SFH leads Crédit Agricole, Helaba, Natixis, SG and UniCredit went out with guidance of the 63bp area for an expected €500m six year covered bond, expected rating Aaa. After around an hour and 25 minutes, the leads reported books above €1.5bn, including €175m of JLM interest, and after around two-and-a-half hours, the spread was set at 56bp and the size at €750m on the back of books above €2bn, including €200m of JLM interest. The final book was above €1.7bn.

A lead banker said that, with pricing coming in around fair value, CCF took more size than expected.

“French covered bond spreads are still relatively elevated,” he added. “It’s quite telling that Iccrea yesterday achieved a better price than CCF.”

The Italian bank yesterday issued the first euro benchmark covered bond in almost two weeks, since a €1.25bn long five year for BPCE SFH on 15 April.

Iccrea leads Barclays, BBVA, Crédit Agricole, Helaba, UBS and UniCredit priced the €600m 5.5 year OBG, expected rating Aa3, at 52bp, following guidance of the 60bp area. The deal was upsized from €500m on the back of a peak book above €1.8bn and final book of around €1.15bn.

A lead banker putting the NIP at 2bp, while the pricing was some 9bp inside BTPs.