Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) priced its first U.S. dollar-denominated covered bond Wednesday (April 7).
The $1.5 billion issue, with a five-year maturity, sold at 45.85 basis points over comparable Treasury yields, according to Reuters.
This is the second USD covered bond issue from a Canadian bank — both in 2010. The first, a three-year, $2 [...]

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U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) today (March 18) introduced comprehensive proposed federal covered bond legislation in the form of a standalone bill: the “United States Covered Bond Act of 2010.”
The bill draws extensively from (but is not identical to) the text of a legal framework for covered bonds that Rep. Garrett proposed last year [...]

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The Canadian government has officially announced its intention to introduce legislation governing covered bonds, “making it easier for Canadian financial institutions to access this low-cost source of funding.”
The announcement came in Ottawa as part of the latest Budget, tabled in Canada’s House of Commons by Finance Minister James M. Flaherty (March 4). The relevant [...]

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The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) — a powerful voice in the U.S. housing arena — recommends moving toward a future where covered bonds could play a significant role in U.S. real estate financing.
This recommendation comes as part of a new NAR document on how best to restructure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the [...]

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