US regional banks get solid welcome for new bonds

6:48 pm Thursday, January 18th, 2024

By Matt Tracy

(Reuters) – Two major U.S. regional banks raised a total $4.75 billion selling bonds on Thursday, on the back of strong demand in a sign that fixed income investors are no longer jittery about regional banks after the March banking crisis.

Citizens Bank on Thursday sold $1.25 billion in six-year senior unsecured callable fixed-to-floating rate notes. U.S. Bancorp, meanwhile, sold $3.5 billion in six-year and 11-year callable senior unsecured fixed-to-floating rate notes.

The banks’ deals follow Wednesday’s $2.5 billion bond sale by peer PNC Bank. The sale was met with strong investor demand and its book received over six times that amount in orders.

Market participants expect similarly strong demand for today’s bank deals, in a sign that investors have gotten over last March’s regional banking crisis, where three small-to-mid size U.S. banks failed over the course of five days.

“There is very strong demand for credit right now for the regional banks,” said Natalie Trevithick, head of investment-grade credit strategy at asset manager Payden & Rygel.

“It definitely reflects some consensus that we survived the crisis.”

Both Citizens and U.S. Bancorp’s new bonds priced at a spread that was 27 to 30 basis points inside their initial price talk levels, reflecting strong investor demand for their notes, according to Informa Global Markets.

“The market’s hot right now,” said Dan Krieter, director of U.S. investment grade strategy at BMO Capital Markets. “Concerns about March have abated…Those fears are gone now.”

The market should expect similar deals to continue through the rest of January, according to Krieter, who noted that BMO has forecast between $50 billion and $55 billion in non-U.S. Yankee and regional bank issuance by the end of the month.

The regional banks’ decision to tap the bond market during the holiday-shortened week – like their larger global systemically important bank (GSIB) peers – comes after their latest earnings disclosures.

Bank of America also tapped the bond market on Thursday, selling $5 billion in 11-year senior unsecured fixed-to-floating rate notes.

Other GSIBs that issued debt this week include JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

(Reporting by Matt Tracy; Editing by Marguerita Choy)