Credit spreads contracting for banks

Credit spread contraction is occurring and is evident in the A$1.35 billion, four-year bond sold last week by Commonwealth Bank. CBA bank priced A$850 million of fixed rate bonds and A$500 million of.. read more

NZDMO struggles again

Over the course of this year the New Zealand Debt Management Office has had a few less than successful bond tenders, and it is just two weeks since a Treasury bill tender failed. read more

ME Bank stirs RMBS market

Are conditions improving in the structured finance sector or not? There seems to be a lot of conflicting evidence around of late, as has been reported here over the last few weeks. read more

Future Fund provides asset allocation lessons

The Future Fund released a portfolio update on Friday that revealed, among other things, a A$12.5 billion investment in debt securities, as at the end of June, and up about $1 billion over the quarter.. read more

Westpac reliant on guarantee in US market

Possibly hoping to demonstrate an ongoing need for a government guarantee, Westpac last week undertook the largest government-guaranteed bond issue in the US s144A market yet. Westpac raised US$3.5 bi.. read more

CBA dominates the US s144A market

The US s144A market has become very popular with Australian borrowers since the onset of the GFC and the Euromarket has been almost shunned. The Euromarket has traditionally been Australian borrowers'.. read more

Mortgage arrears improve over June quarter

Moody's Investor Service last week published arrears data for prime and non-conforming mortgage-backed securities to the end of June 2009. Arrears in excess of 30 days on prime RMBS fell to 1.32 per c.. read more

Westfield and Foxtel tap US debt market

In what was effectively the last week of the month, issuance activity in the debt capital market last week was mostly offshore and mostly in the US. As of the close of business on Friday, offshore iss.. read more