News

In this exclusive interview, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) talks with Covered Bond Investor™ about the amendments offered by Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) at the markup session for the United States Covered Bond Act of 2010 (H.R. 5823), held July 28.

The latest version of comprehensive U.S. covered bond legislation, H.R. 5823, was reported out of a markup session by a voice vote of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Wednesday evening (July 28).

Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada (CIBC) tapped both of the U.S. dollar-denominated bonds it has issued to date, generating an additional $1 billion (July 27).

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has sent a letter to U.S. House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), urging him to support the revised version of the proposed U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2010 that was introduced in Congress July 22 as H.R. 5823.

A revised version of the proposed U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2010 — introduced July 22 in the House of Representatives as H.R. 5823 — has been scheduled for markup on July 27 by the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC).

BBVA scores a solid (though wide) Spanish CB issue . . . CFF and CIF Euromortgage tap existing issues . . . hopes for Australian covered bonds in 2011 ... and more

Some items of covered bond news do not rate their own story in this publication — often because they relate to geographic areas outside our focus, North America.  Even so, readers who want to keep up with covered bond news in general might find them interesting.

Among potential Canadian issuers of U.S. dollar-denominated (USD) covered bonds, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) was the next shoe that many expected to drop — and now it has.

While Bank of Nova Scotia's US $2.5 billion covered bond was making headlines on this side of the Atlantic, Europe's covered bond items were mostly limited to ratings news.

Barry Critchley in the Financial Post used Bank of Nova Scotia's debut issue of covered bonds (CBs) as a news peg to discuss the rise of this funding instrument in Canada (July 17).

"So far this year, [Canadian] banks have been to the market on seven occasions — in three currencies: US$, C$ and Swiss Francs," Critchley points out. This equals the total number of previous Canadian CB issues since the nation's first in 2007.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) launched a three-year, U.S. dollar-denominated covered bond in the amount of $2.5 billion via Scotia Covered Bond Trust (July 15).

Pricing was at 52.2 basis points over the relevant benchmark, for a yield of 1.498%.