...Australia had the highest level of covered bond issuance in a third quarter since 2012, with AUD4.5bn issued. Activity in 3Q surpassed a quiet 2Q by AUD2.8bn; however, year-to-date issuance is still down more than AUD3bn compared with the same period last year. This puts 2015 year-end issuance within Fitch's published issuance expectation of around AUD15.0bn for the year. Australian issuers had sold AUD11.4bn of covered bonds at end-September 2015 and, on average, have been raising AUD4.0bn of covered bond funding in the fourth quarter since 2011. Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC, AA-/Stable/F1+) issued two euro bonds totalling EUR1.3bn and one US dollar bond worth USD800m. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA, AA-/Stable/F1+) also tapped the US market with a five-year USD1.0bn issue. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ, AA-/Stable/F1+) rounded out the quarter with a 16-year EUR151m bond. All issuances were "soft- bullet" maturities with a 12-month extension period. Westpac...
