Asian banks continue to exploit bond liquidity

Three Asian banks came to the dollar bond market last week, raising a total of $1.7 billion amid continued strong demand. Bangkok Bank raised $1.2 billion, Citic Bank $300 million and RHB Bank $200 million.

Citic and RHB both priced their deals late on Thursday night, two days after Bangkok Bank’s much bigger deal. Citic’s 10-year non-call five qualified as lower tier-2 capital and was issued off its $2 billion medium-term note programme.

The bonds offer a coupon of 3.875% and were priced at 99.824 to yield 3.9%, or 325bp over US Treasuries, after tightening guidance down from 350bp during the course of the day. Citic is...