Westpac has completed the bookbuild for its latest issue of additional tier 1 securities, pricing the issue at a wider margin than the margins on recent issues by NAB and ANZ. Westpac has allocated A$1.75 billion under the offer, Capital Notes 10, and will pay a margin of 310 basis points over the three-month bank bill swap rate (currently 4.38 per cent).  The first call date is September 2031 and the mandatory conversion date is June 2034.  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. There was strong demand for the Westpac notes. The bank set out to raise $750 million or more. Investors appear to have shrugged off concerns about APRA’s plans to change the rules covering AT1 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. However, the wider margin, compared with other recent big banks issues, may represent a premium for the uncertainty about the future of the hybrid market. BondAdviser noted that while trading margins have widened since NAB’s issue in August, spreads are below the market’s long-term average.  “In such an environment, issuers tend to lock in issuances with longer tenors and larger sizes,” it said.