[BERLIN] Deutsche Bank is selling a significant risk transfer (SRT) linked to a portfolio of US$3 billion in corporate loans, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the latest deal to drive this market toward record volumes this year.
The size of the SRT is around 8 per cent of the portfolio, or about US$240 million, with the loans in both North America and Europe, the people said. The notes will form part of the lender’s Craft programme, they added, asking not to be identified because the deal is private. A representative for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
SRTs allow banks to essentially buy insurance on debt, freeing up capital, while still keeping the assets on their balance sheets. The transactions involve selling notes to funds in exchange for yields that can frequently top 10 per cent, with the investors agreeing to absorb some losses if the loans go bad.
Other European banks currently discussing SRT deals include Banco Santander, BNP Paribas and UniCredit. Demand for such instruments remains largely unaffected by the recent bout of volatility in public financial markets.
In March, Deutsche Bank priced a US$560 million SRT deal out of its Craft programme at a spread of 750 basis points over the secured overnight financing rate, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The lender also priced an SRT deal tied to a portfolio of loans to German mid-cap companies, chief executive officer Christian Sewing said on an April 29 earnings call.
“There was also no noticeable repricing required. So, actually, there is a lot of demand,” said Sewing on the call, replying to a question about the potential impact of economic uncertainties on demand for SRTs.
SRT are among the tools Deutsche Bank is using for its plan to reduce its risk weighted assets by 25 billion euros (S$36.4 billion) to 30 billion euros by the end of the year, a goal the lender may “overachieve,” Sewing told analysts.
The rising popularity of SRTs means deals may hit record volumes this year. Chorus Capital Management, which invests in SRTs, projects global issuance to grow to as much as US$35 billion, compared with an estimated US$29 billion last year, with the lion’s share taking place in Europe.
UniCredit is working on at least three SRTs tied to loan portfolios totalling around 4.2 billion euros, while Santander is discussing another three to offload risk from its loan portfolios in Spain, Denmark and the UK. BNP Paribas is also in talks to sell an SRT linked to a portfolio of about 10 billion euros in corporate loans. BLOOMBERG
