---
title: "SSA and Financials: Weekly Market Update"
url: https://www.helaba.com/en/ssa-and-financials-weekly-market-update-2
type: dd_research
language: en
updated: 2026-09-28
keywords: Renten, Weekly Market Update_englisch
---

# SSA and Financials: Weekly Market Update

Focus on: SSAs & Financials 4 May 2023 © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 1 of 7 Research & Advisory Weekly Market Update Primary market environment: The week was dominated by interest rate decisions in both the US and Europe. As expected, the FOMC unanimously raised rates by 25bps to a target range of 5.0-5.25%. The ECB is prepared to slow the pace of rate adjustments and announced a 25bp rate hike today. Our Risk Trend Indicator shows a rather cautious attitude on the part of investors. However, the market environ- ment for European banks is encouragingly stable, given the negative news flow coming from the US banking sec- tor. Primary market barometer Influenced by holidays and Fed and ECB decisions, issuance activity across all asset classes has been low in recent days, as expected. For SSAs, the barometer for the coming 5-day week is green, indicating a good pri- mary market situation for issuers in this segment. We also expect covered bond issu- ance to pick up next week. Also last week, it had not come to a full stand- still: Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw was rewarded for its courage (see next page). This should be an incentive for other Pfandbrief issuers in the sav- ings bank family. Interest rate decisions and Monday's public holiday slowed the primary market this week. Negative news from the US banking sector contrasted with pleasingly good quarterly results from European banks. As the reporting sea- son draws to a close, we expect the market to remain receptive next week. Covered Bonds Senior Unsecured SSAs Risk trend indicator:Marked by caution Relative\* ASW spread change \* ASW levels standardized and 2T-smoothed Sources: Refinitiv, Helaba Research & Advisory IB OXX EUR O 1 day 1 week 4 week 13 weeks 52 weeks 104 weeks Germany -0,08 -0,13 -0,16 -0,59 1,33 -1,24 European Union 0,00 0,12 0,17 0,00 2,76 2,52 Germany Covered 0,00 0,01 0,03 0,21 1,10 1,25 EU Covered 0,00 0,02 0,02 0,12 0,92 1,05 Banks senior preferred 0,04 0,13 -0,03 0,80 1,11 1,81 Banks senior bail-in (SNP) 0,06 0,14 -0,02 0,91 0,80 1,77 Banks subordinated 0,06 0,16 0,12 1,15 0,88 2,25 Supranational 0,00 0,09 0,11 0,05 2,42 2,21 Agencies -0,03 0,02 -0,02 -0,24 1,37 0,01 Sub-Sovereigns Germany 0,00 0,03 0,00 0,03 0,48 -0,20 Sub-Sovereigns -0,01 0,08 0,00 0,05 1,36 0,80 strong middle weak unchanged weak middle strong spread widening spread tightening Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 2 of 7 SSAs As expected, Monday’s Labor Day holiday and the Fed and ECB decisions resulted in little issuance this week. Only Schleswig-Holstein issued a 5-year bond. Issuance was solid, with a final order book of just under EUR 800m and an issuance volume of EUR 650m. Outlook: Although volumes are unlikely to match those of previous weeks, next week's EU issue is a big one and other issuers are likely to follow in its wake. The European Central Bank (ECB) continued to reduce its holdings of bonds purchased under the APP pro- gramme in April. Holdings fell by a total of EUR 14.490 bn (March: -15.392) to EUR 3.216 bn. APP holdings of pub- lic sector bonds decreased by EUR 12.037 bn (-10.104 bn) to EUR 2,557.8 bn, and those of covered bonds by EUR 1.080 bn (-2.759 bn) to EUR 298.6 bn. According to the ECB's decision, APP holdings will be reduced by EUR 15 billion per month until the end of June. In line with today's decision, there will be no reinvestment of APP maturi- ties from July onwards, so that the reduction of holdings will accelerate in the second half of the year. Covered Bonds Pfandbriefe from the savings bank sector are a guarantee for successful primary is- sues. For example, this week Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw placed a EUR 500m 6-year Mortgage Pfandbrief and achieved a final order book of EUR 840m. The original spread target was tightened by 3bp from MS+14bp to a final MS+11bp. The issue met with strong demand, particularly from savings banks. From the point of view of other Pfandbrief issuers in the savings bank sector, this should be seen as a positive signal of good pri- mary market conditions. The transaction was also well received on the secondary side, with spreads tighten- ing slightly the following day. Overall, risk premiums for the asset class remained stable. We currently count a total of 44 savings banks that regularly issue mortgage and public-sector Pfandbriefe under the German Pfandbrief Act (Pfandbriefgesetz). The high proportion of residential mortgages in the cover pool is a key feature of all savings bank Pfandbriefe. Overall, the savings banks' mortgage Pfandbriefe account for around 10% of the EUR 260 billion volume of all correspond- ing bonds issued by savings banks and member institutions of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks at the end of June 2022, which is a considerable amount. Outlook: The primary market backdrop remains constructive. We expect a high volume of transactions next week after the recent quiet days. Coupon Issuer Rating (M/S&P/F) Volume € Tap Maturity Launch-Spread vs. Mid-Swaps ESG Launch Orderbook 1st Spread- Indication 2,875% Schleswig-Holstein - /-/AAA 0,650bn 10.05.2028 ms -8 bps 03.05.2023 0,795bn ms -8 area Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba DCM € SSAs issues week of 1 May 2023 Coupon Issuer Rating (M/S&P/F) Volume € Tap Maturity Launch-Spread vs. Mid-Swaps ESG Launch Orderbook 1st Spread- Indication 3,000% Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw - /-/AAA 0,500bn 11.05.2029 ms +11 bps 03.05.2023 0,910bn ms +14 area Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba DCM € Covered Bond issues week of 1 May 2023 More than 40 savings banks are Pfandbrief issuers Distribution of Mortgage Pfandbrief volume of savings banks and vdp members\* \*Q2 2022 Sources: vdp, Helaba Research & Advisory Savings Banks- Pfandbriefe 10% Pfandbriefe (vdp-members w/o Sparkassen) 90% Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 3 of 7 Senior Unsecured As expected, activity in the primary market for senior unsecured bonds was relatively low this week, with market participants adopting a wait-and-see attitude ahead of interest rate decisions in the US and Europe. In addition, Monday was a public holiday. With BBVA, Nordea Bank and Stan-dard Chartered, three very well established names placed securities in EUR benchmark format. With a total transaction volume of EUR 3 billion, they were able to generate orders worth a respectable EUR 5 billion on the basis of relatively favourable spread offers. The market remained encouragingly receptive despite the resurgence of negative news from the US banking sector. At the beginning of the week, the announcement of JP Morgan's acquisition of Californian First Republic Bank (FRB) initially provided some relief. FRB had previously suffered a significant outflow of deposits, especially after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. The calm did not last long, however, and share prices of other regional banks such as PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp fell. Nevertheless, banks in Europe con- tinued to post very good quarterly results, with HSBC, BNP Paribas and UniCredit all reporting re- spectable year-on-year profit in- creases. This was largely due to surging net interest income with stable low problem loan ratios. Managements of UniCredit and BNP stated that they were not planning any takeovers; for market leaders, this is an obvious question in an environment of turbulent news. More caution comes from BPCE’s results today, which are marked by rising funding costs, while the repricing of assets is not progressing to the same extent. Outlook: Issuance plans for this year are far from being realised, given the long maturities and strict regulatory requirements for total bail-in capital. Most banks have now reported their quarterly results, so issuance could pick up again. However, this depends on the news flow remaining calm. Further negative news from US regional banks could cause uncertainty, but we do not currently see direct contagion risks for the European primary market. Coupon Issuer Rating (M/S&P/F) Volume € Tap Maturity Launch-Spread vs. Mid-Swaps ESG Launch Orderbook 1st Spread- Indication 4,125% BBVA A3 /A/A- 1,000bn 10.05.2026 ms +67 bps 02.05.2023 2,000bn ms +90 area Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba DCM € Senior Preferred issues week of 1 May 2023 "While equity markets are still not far from their highs for the year, credit spreads have recently started to widen again and the iTraxx indices are gradually rising as nervousness increases. The iTraxx Main and Sen Fin are decoupling again as nervousness grows in the banking sector. Investor flows are relatively balanced but below average. Real money is increasingly looking for the bid side and fast money is trading without clear tendencies. ETF funds have been buyers again recently. New issues continue to see the most activity. Illiquid- ity is likely to rise due to the many holidays in May, so overreactions cannot be ruled out.” Comment from the Helaba trading floor Issuer Date Issuer Date RAIFFEISEN BANK INTERNATIONA 5/5 ABN AM RO BANK NV-CVA 5/10 INTESA SANPAOLO 5/5 CREDIT AGRICOLE SA 5/10 SPAREBANKEN SOR 5/5 AAREAL BANK AG 5/11 BANCA M ONTE DEI PASCHI SIENA 5/8 ING GROEP NV 5/11 BANCO BPM SPA 5/8 SOCIETE GENERALE SA 5/12 Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory Reporting dates of selected banks Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 4 of 7 Chart of the Week This week, the European Bank- ing Authority published its April 2023 Bank Lending Survey. Ac- cording to the report, banks re- ported a further substantial tightening in credit standards. Loan demand decreased strongly, driven by rising inter- est rates, lower fixed invest- ment, and deteriorating housing markets. The ongoing reduction in the European Central Bank (ECB)’s balance sheet contrib- utes to weakening lending dy- namics. Short news 5/3 Italian Covered Bonds/Scope Ratings: The full implementation of the EU Covered Bond Di- rective (with the entry into force of the secondary legislation on 31.3.23) and the updating of the le- gal framework for Italian covered bonds have no impact on the agency's rating methodology, says Scope Ratings in its report. According to the report, Italian covered bonds can be rated up to 9 notches above the issuer's rating. The implementation of the EU directive should now pave the way for Italian banks to launch new issues. This re- quires an update of the base prospectus and notification to the Bank of Italy. After a 30-day notification period, the institutions will be able to resume their issuing activities. 5/3 Europe’s banks drop in loan demand but upbeat on profit: Banks in Europe are facing flagging demand for loans amid rising borrowing costs and industry turmoil, but they remain optimistic about profitability from higher lending rates. According to Bloomberg, the overwhelming majority of banks said that the rising rates will con- tinue to improve their profitability. 5/1 Banking sector turmoil: JP Morgan Chase & Co. agreed to acquire First Republic Bank in a government-led deal for the failed lender, putting to rest one of the biggest troubled banks remaining after turmoil engulfed the industry in March. (Bloomberg) 4/28 FitchRating downgrades France from 'AA' to 'AA-': Following Fitch's downgrade of France to 'AA-' with a sta- ble outlook, we do not expect any impact on covered bond ratings. On the one hand, the public sector covered bonds of Caisse Française de Financement Local SCF, Crédit Agricole SCF, Arkea Public Sector SCF and Société Gé- nérale SCF are not be rated by Fitch. On the other hand, Fitch-rated Mortgage Covered Bonds should have no rat- ing implications due to the agency's rating standards. Coupon Issuer Rating (M/S&P/F) Volume € Tap Maturity Launch-Spread vs. Mid-Swaps ESG Launch Orderbook 1st Spread- Indication 4,125% Nordea Bank Abp A3 /A/AA- 1,000bn 05.05.2028 ms +110 bps 02.05.2023 1,450bn ms +125 area 4,874% Standard Chartered PLC A3 /BBB+/A 1,000bn 10.05.2031 ms +185 bps 02.05.2023 1,600bn ms +205 area Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba DCM € Senior Non-preferred issues week of 1 May 2023 Banks noticeably tighten their lending standards % (credit standards according to Bank Lending Survey)\* % \*Positive means tightening, negative means easing Sources: EBA, Refinitiv, Helaba Research & Advisory -20 -5 10 25 40 -20 -5 10 25 40 13/05 13/09 14/01 14/05 14/09 15/01 15/05 15/09 16/01 16/05 16/09 17/01 17/05 17/09 18/01 18/05 18/09 19/01 19/05 19/09 20/01 20/05 20/09 21/01 21/05 21/09 22/01 22/05 22/09 23/01 23/05 Enterprises Consumer credit House purchase Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 5 of 7 4/27 Draft version of its revised taxonomy architecture: The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Euro- pean Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) have been working jointly with Eurofiling to produce a revised version of the taxonomy architecture in order to implement the improvements introduced by data point model (DPM) Refit to data point modeling. \* Closing prices from the previous day Sources: Refinitiv, Helaba Research & Advisory, \* ASW-Spreads Market Data (current\*, vs. 1 week, vs. 4 weeks) E-STOXX 600 Banks 147 -2,11% 0,52% iBoxx € Cov. Germany 6,8 -1,0 -0,7 iTraxx Senior Financial 103,3 2,1 -3,7 10Yr-Yield 2,3 -0,1 0,1 iBoxx € Cov. Bonds 20,5 -0,6 -0,5 iBoxx € Supranational 18,1 0,32 -0,01 Swap 10J 2,9 -0,1 0,1 iBoxx € Banks PS 81,3 1,5 -2,7 iBoxx € Agencies -2,5 -0,72 -1,40 iBoxx € Germany -54,8 -2,3 -2,9 iBoxx Banks NPS 119,4 3,3 -2,0 iBoxx € Sub-Sov. Germany 10,3 -0,16 -1,22 iBoxx € EU 23,9 0,9 0,9 iBoxx Banks Subordinated 210,4 4,5 -0,2 iBoxx € Sub-Sovereign 25,9 0,23 -1,25 Leisure tip for the weekend: Visit to the Battenberg Town Museum at the coronation of Charles III Do you have ideas for leisure tips? We would be happy to receive your suggestions at research@helaba.de. Source: https://www.stadtmuseum-battenberg.de This week's leisure tip is for Battenberg / Eder. It is true that Charles III will in future be addressed as "Royal Highness" and by his first name. But the official surname of all the descendants of Elizabeth II is "Mountbatten- Windsor", an anglicised version of the name of the town in northern Hesse. The name derives from Charles's grandmother's membership of the House of Battenberg. You can find out more about the links between the Hessian noble family and important European royal houses by visiting the town mu- seum. Further information: Battenberg Town Museum Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 6 of 7 Chartbook SSAs, Covered Bonds, Senior Unsecured Senior Unsecured: Primary volumes Senior Unsecured: Spread development EUR benchmark issue volume cumulative by weeks, bn EUR ASW spread, bp Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 2023 Senior Non-preferred 2023 Senior Preferred 2022 Senior Preferred 2022 Senior Non-preferred 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Mai.22 Jul.22 Sep.22 Nov.22 Jan.23 Mrz.23 Mai.23 Banks Subordinated Banks Senior Bail-in Banks Senior Preferred Covered Bonds: Primary volumes Covered Bonds: Spread development EUR benchmark issue volume cumulative by weeks, bn EUR ASW spread, bp Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 2023 2022 2021 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 Mai.22 Jul.22 Sep.22 Nov.22 Jan.23 Mrz.23 Mai.23 EUR Covered Covered Germany SSAs: Primary volumes SSAs: Spread development EUR benchmark issue volume cumulative by weeks, bn EUR ASW spread, bp Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory Sources: Bloomberg, Helaba Research & Advisory 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 2022 2021 2023 -25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 -25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 Mai. 22 Jul. 22 Sep. 22 Nov. 22 Jan. 23 Mrz. 23 Mai. 23 Sub-Sovereigns Agencies Supranationals Sub-Sovereigns Germany Focus on: SSAs & Financials – Weekly Market Update © Helaba | Research & Advisory | 4 May 2023 7 of 7 News from Research & Advisory  Video: Sustainable Finance – ICMA & Helaba Talk 2023  Focus on Credits: Primary market update EUR benchmark bank bonds Q1 2023"  Focus on Credits: EUR Corporate bonds: Primary market Q1 2023  Focus on Credits: European banks: Déjà vu in a crisis environment?  Focus on Credits: Social and sustainability bonds: ICMA Principles - the freestyle element makes all the difference  European banks: An optimistic outlook for 2023  Focus on: Corporate Schuldschein: Burgeoning diversity creates new options for investors  Focus on: Primary Market update EUR Benchmark Bank Bonds Q4 2022  Focus on: Singaporean Covered Bonds - Top credit quality made in Asia  Markets and Trends 2023  FOCUS ON CREDITS - BASEL III AND THE EU COUNCIL'S POSITION ON THE LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE  FOCUS ON: SUSTAINABLE FINANCE - THE RENDEZVOUS CLAUSE Team of authors Publisher and editorial office Helaba Research & Advisory Editor: Stefan Rausch Corporate Research & Advisory Responsible: Dr. Gertrud R. Traud Chefvolkswirtin/ Head of Research & Advisory Neue Mainzer Str. 52-58 60311 Frankfurt am Main T +49 69 / 91 32 – 20 24 Internet: www.helaba.com Disclaimer This publication has been prepared with the greatest care. However, it contains only non-binding analyses and forecasts of current and future market conditions. The information is based on sources which we consider to be reliable, but for whose accuracy, completeness or up-to-dateness we cannot assume any liability. All state- ments made in this publication are for information purposes only. They must not be understood as an offer or recommendation for investment de- cisions. Here you can subscribe to our newsletter: https://news.helaba.de/research/ Dr. Susanne Knips Senior Credit Analyst T 069/91 32-32 11 Sabrina Miehs, CESGA Head of FI & SSA Research Senior Advisor Sustainable Finance T 069/91 32-48 90 Christian Schmidt Covered Bond & SSA Analyst T 069/91 32-23 88

SSAs: Short week, Fed and ECB decisions and only one issuer. Covered Bonds: All eyes on Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw. Senior Unsecured: European banks post strong quarterly results. Chart of the Week: Banks noticeably tighten their lending standards