Covered bonds drive record issuance quarter in Australian domestic market

The pricing of the first three home-currency covered bonds by Australian major banks helped take first quarter issuance in the domestic credit market to an all-time record outside the era of government-guaranteed flow. While the combined covered bond volume of A$9.6 billion (US$10 billion) accounted for over 40 per cent of primary domestic market activity, overall issuance showed signs of diversity especially later in the quarter.