Briefs: Suncorp sells US$600m senior debt, ANZ downplays Asia fears, NAB games mortgage rules

Suncorp Bank has priced a US dollar 144a fixed rate senior debt transaction of US$600 million with a five year maturity. The transaction, oversubscribed to US$1.30 billion, closed at 103 basis points over US Treasuries, inside the initial price guidance of UST plus 115 bps. The final order book included more than 70 participants, in the wake of a recent roadshow through Asia and the US. The transaction was jointly led by Citibank, Deutsche Bank Securities, Royal Bank of Canada and UBS.
ANZ's global head of transaction banking, Sameer Sawhney told The Australian that concerns about slowing Asian growth had been overplayed and banks operating in the region could absorb the withdrawal of "easy liquidity" from the region. "We haven't seen any big challenges coming through in our portfolio or what we have in the market," he said. ANZ has forecast that Asia will supply up to 30 per cent of its total earnings by 2017.
According to the AFR, some major banks, including National Australia Bank, are gaming mortgage calculations to get around APRA's macroprudntial lending restrictions imposed designed to stop a bubble building in the property market. Meanwhile, APRA is engaged in discussions with a number of banks that are not meeting its expectations on serviceability calculations, and NAB says it's working with the prudential regulator.