...Fourth quarter 2014 ended with AUD3.98bn of covered bond issuance from Australia, which was nearly twice the AUD2.2bn of the previous quarter. There were seven issuances by three Australian banks: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA, AA-/Stable/F1+) issued four Euro bonds totalling EUR1.1bn, with maturities ranging from seven years to 21 years; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ, AA-/ Stable/F1+) issued EUR1bn with a maturity of five years, and Suncorp- Metway Limited (SML, A+/Stable/F1) issued two bonds totalling AUD950m, both with five-year tenors; all issuances were soft-bullet maturities, which featured a 12-month extension period. Total issuance for Australia was AUD18.5bn for 2014, which was within Fitch's expectation of between AUD18bn-20bn of issuance for the year. There was no issuance from New Zealand in the fourth quarter, bringing its tally for the year to NZD1.2bn. Fitch expects the value of issuance to drop to between AUD15bn-17bn in 2015, due partly to the...
