TORONTO, ON–Equitable Bank has completed an offering of €300 million of legislative Covered Bonds due May 28, 2026 (the “Covered Bonds”). The bonds were issued under the Bank’s Global Legislative Covered Bond Programme, which recently increased in size from a capacity of $2 billion to $3 billion, reflecting the growth in total assets of the Bank since launching the program.
The 3-year €300 million Covered Bonds are rated AA by Fitch and DBRS and were issued at a spread of 52 basis points over the Euro mid-swap rate. The bonds are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext Dublin). This offering is the Bank’s fourth issuance since CMHC approved the Bank’s programme, and brings total outstanding to €1.2 billion.
“We regularly profile the benefits of adding more and diverse funding levers, and we have made excellent progress in this strategy over the past few years,” said Chadwick Westlake, Chief Financial Officer of the Bank. “This has been translating in the strength and stability of the Bank’s margin and liquidity, which we shared more about in our recent Q1 2023 results. Inclusive of all costs, covered bonds remain the lowest cost of wholesale funding available to the Bank. In addition to providing favourably priced funding to the Bank, covered bonds attract foreign investors who do not typically participate in Canadian wholesale funding transactions, and would therefore not be accessible to the Bank otherwise. The issue attracted 24 investors, of which 7 were new investors of Equitable’ s covered bonds.”
“Equitable’s acquisition of Concentra Bank, which was completed November 1, 2022, provided great synergy to expand the issuance capacity of the programme and add margin tailwind with this strategically important funding source. We intend to remain a regular issuer of covered bonds in Europe,” Westlake said.
In the United Kingdom, this announcement is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, persons who: (A) (i) are “investment professionals” specified in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order or (iii) are other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated; and (B) are “qualified investors” within the meaning of Article 2(e) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (all such persons together being referred to as “Relevant Persons”). In the European Economic Area (the “EEA”), this announcement is addressed only to and directed only at persons in member states who are “qualified investors” within the meaning of Article 2(e) of Regulation ((EU) 2017/1129 (“Qualified Investors”). This announcement must not be acted on or relied on (i) in the United Kingdom, by persons who are not Relevant Persons, and (ii) in any member state of the EEA, by persons who are not Qualified Investors. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement relates is available only to: (i) in the United Kingdom, Relevant Persons; and (ii) in any member state of the EEA, Qualified Investors, and will be engaged in only with such persons.
About Equitable Bank
Equitable Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank™—is a wholly owned subsidiary of EQB Inc., which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: EQB) (TSX: EQB.PR.C) and serves more than 515,000 customers. Equitable Bank’s wholly owned subsidiary Concentra Bank supports Canadian credit unions and their more than 6 million members. With nearly $105 billion in combined assets under management and administration, Equitable Bank has a clear mandate to drive change in Canadian banking to enrich people’s lives. Founded more than 50 years ago, Canada’s Challenger Bank™ provides diversified personal and commercial banking, and through its digital EQ Bank platform (eqbank.ca) has been named the best bank in Canada on the Forbes World’s Best Banks 2021, 2022 and 2023 lists.
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