Ten-year bank pricing narrows

Philip Bayley
Commonwealth Bank followed National Australia Bank's lead from the start of this month and raised €1.0 billion for ten years on Thursday night, our time.

However, CBA did much better, pricing the deal at 98 basis points over mid-swaps compared with NAB's 133 bps over. Ouch!

Have market conditions improved this much in the space of two weeks?

Perhaps: Greece seems to be fading from investors' radars already but on the other hand, there could be a big difference in perceptions of credit quality, although usually investors do not distinguish between the big four. Whatever the case, CBA shouldn't really mind having to pay another 50 bps for the euro-Australian dollar basis swap.

Rabobank Australia added another A$50 million to its January 2015 line, taking outstandings to A$175 million.