News
World Bank (AAA/Aaa) priced an increase to its March 2017 Kangaroo line on September 3. The transaction is the first tap of the line which was introduced in February 2012 at a volume of A$700 million (US$650.5 million) and pricing of 99.75 basis points over Australian government bond (ACGB).
The first semi-government issuer to bring a new benchmark transaction to market subsequent to a recent liquid assets rule change by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) says the change likely had an impact on the deal's book. But the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) claims aggregate demand was barely affected, and the deal outcome thoroughly vindicated the decision to issue.
The South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) (AA/Aa1) priced its new four-year FRN benchmark tender on September 3.
In the latest of a regular series of commentaries following cash-rate decisions, KangaNews columnist, Warren Bird, reviews the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)'s September 2 statement to reveal the key changes according to his rigorous three-category analysis of the reserve bank's thinking.
On September 2, Asian Development Bank (ADB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced a new March 2025 Australian dollar deal in the borrower's second Kangaroo transaction of 2014. According to KangaNews data, ADB most recently visited Australia in May this year with a dual-tranche, five-year transaction. That A$1 billion (US$932.9 million) fixed- and A$200 million floating-rate deal had pricing of 20 basis points over swap.
In the wake of its debut domestic transaction, Scentre Group (Scentre) says Australian dollar pricing was comparable to its European capital-markets debut. But while it hopes the transaction will be the first of many in Australia it retains a conservative outlook in terms of volume expectations of the domestic market.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) confirmed on September 1 that it plans to ease the liquid-assets regime for branches of foreign banks registered as authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). KangaNews exclusively revealed earlier the same day that the Australian regulator was poised to reduce the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirement and effectively to loosen asset-class restrictions for this category of ADI.
KangaNews understands the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority could be close to changing the liquid-assets requirements for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) which are branches of offshore banks. Market sources say there are two key measures under consideration: one would likely reduce the volume of liquid assets these banks are required to hold, the other could clear the way for greater allocation to securities which do not qualify as high-quality liquid assets (HQLAs).
On September 1, the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) (AA/Aa1) announced its intention to issue up to A$1.5 billion (US$1.4 billion) of a new floating-rate note (FRN) benchmark issue. The indicative price range on the forthcoming December 2018 maturity bond is 7-10 basis points over bank bill swap rate (BBSW), SAFA says.