News
The second auction of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) conducted by the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) followed the precedent set by the first, as the majority of securities offered were not sold. The July 14 auction saw less than A$100.0 million (US$74.3 million) of amortised face value (AFV) sold – less than the A$161.5 million cleared on June 24.
On July 13, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) published a study comparing Australian major bank capital ratios with those of their international peers. The study is the next step in APRA's response to the Australian financial-system inquiry (FSI) recommendation that Australian banks be required to be in the top quartile of global banks for capital.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) (AA-/Aa2/AA-) mandated a new self-led, five-year, senior-unsecured benchmark transaction on July 13, in what will be the bank's first public deal in the Australian market since it sold A$1.0 billion (US$743.6 million) of tier-two paper in October 2014.
Markets remained in wait-and-see mode as Greece's debt woes and Chinese equity market uncertainty weighed heavily on sentiment. This provided little opportunity for intermediaries to add to their year-to-date league table positions.
With the first half of 2015 now in the rear-view mirror, KangaNews is pleased to reveal its intermediary league tables for the first six months of the year. Most of the contenders are well established, but the first half also saw some notable movement from full-year 2014.
Australasian activity was subdued during the week under review as the global spotlight maintained focus on Greece. Meanwhile, securitisation market sources say the Australian Office of Financial Management residential mortgage-backed securities sale results have done nothing to shake their view that the process will be positive for the overall market.
Securitisation market sources say they are not concerned about the failure of the first auction of Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to clear. In fact, intermediaries tell KangaNews the first auction has done nothing to shake their view that the divestment process will be positive for the overall market.