ANZ has launched an issue of additional tier 1 securities, seeking A$1 billion or more and with pricing of the hybrids expected to be in a range between 290 and 310 basis points over the bank bill swap rate. If pricing comes in at the lower end of the range, the margin will be tighter than pricing on Westpac’s recent issue, Capital Notes 10, which was priced at a margin of 310 bps in November.  In August, NAB issued NAB Capital Notes 7 at a margin of 280 bps over three-month BBSW. And in February, ANZ issued ANZ Capital Notes 8 at a margin of 275 bps. The three-month bank bill swap rate is currently trading around 4.3 per cent. The issue, ANZ Capital Notes 9, will have a first call date of March 2031 and a mandatory conversion date of September 2033. The bank said it expects to complete the bookbuild by February 21. Hybrid issuers are still waiting on APRA to complete its deliberations over changes to the design features of additional tier 1 securities. In September, the regulator issued a discussion paper flagging the possibility of restricting retail investor access to hybrids, changing distribution and loss absorbency rules and reducing the level of hybrid capital in a bank’s minimum regulatory capital. Last month, APRA said it would undertake formal consultation on proposed changes to regulatory capital rules affecting additional tier 1 securities but did not set out a timeline.