Real money disdain leaves ECB to do covered heavy lifting

摘要

Real money investors, deterred by the tight pricing levels on covered bonds, have shrunk the size of their orders in the primary market, leaving the ECB to do the heavy lifting when it comes to new issues. Fears that the covered bond market would be adversely impacted by the ECB's cut in its asset purchase programme from €60bn to €30bn a month have not materialised. Instead, the central bank has ramped up purchases.