November 19, 2009

November 19th, 2009

James Mackintosh of the Financial Times was kind enough to link to a PrefBlog post in his discussion of Contingent Capital, CoCo farming shows the true value of government guarantees. He suggests that just about all of a banks capital market financing be contingent capital – which is, after all, what happens in bankruptcy:

Banks should be forced to turn a big chunk of existing bank debt into CoCos, with a conversion trigger based on a minimum level of capital – the worst case scenario – *or* on the bank failing. In effect, this would be a bank resolution regime which automatically converts debt to equity, avoiding the need for government rescues. Debt would cost a lot more, but bondholders would also have a far bigger incentive to keep an eye on bank management. Perhaps only 50 per cent of debt, or some other very large amount, rather than 100 per cent, would need to be convertible – but it would have to be far more than the normal belief of what might be needed in order to deal with the “black swan” events which lead to the need for government intervention.

Increased bank regulation and pay-approvals is leading to a talent drain to hedge funds:

Meredith Whitney, the analyst who cut her rating on Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last month, said the bank has lost some of its top-performing employees as executives left to start their own investment companies.

“Goldman’s lost a tremendous amount of talent going to set up their own hedge funds,” Whitney, founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Radio. “It became a scary prospect of having the government determine what you make,” said Whitney, who also said today that bank stocks are “grossly overvalued.”

The stock plunge today was pretty tame, as plunges go, but Bloomberg says they plunged … with something even more interesting going on:

U.S. stocks extended a global drop as concern grew that the rally has outpaced the prospects for economic growth. The yen and the dollar strengthened, oil tumbled and yields on Treasury three-month bills turned negative for the first time since financial markets froze last year.

They now quote 3-month US Bills at 1bp – count ’em, one.

The preferred share market continued its recent run, with PerpetualDiscounts gaining 14bp on the day, while FixedResets were down a negligible amount. The big news was that volume fell.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.92%, equivalent to 8.30% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.4x. Long Corporates are about 5.9%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (also called the Seniority Spread) is about 240bp. This is a shade wider than the 235bp reported on November 11, but the market seems to have found a new level … at least, until it doesn’t.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.7414 % 1,502.1
FixedFloater 5.96 % 4.08 % 43,496 18.70 1 0.2747 % 2,614.6
Floater 2.60 % 3.03 % 97,223 19.62 3 -0.7414 % 1,876.6
OpRet 4.81 % -4.85 % 121,164 0.09 14 -0.0818 % 2,305.9
SplitShare 6.36 % -7.34 % 336,155 0.08 2 -0.1096 % 2,111.1
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0818 % 2,108.5
Perpetual-Premium 5.90 % 5.53 % 124,939 2.41 4 0.1592 % 1,863.7
Perpetual-Discount 5.85 % 5.92 % 186,338 14.00 70 0.1380 % 1,772.2
FixedReset 5.47 % 3.97 % 392,496 3.94 41 -0.0045 % 2,135.2
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
RY.PR.W Perpetual-Discount -1.47 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 21.99
Evaluated at bid price : 22.12
Bid-YTW : 5.56 %
BAM.PR.B Floater -1.43 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 13.12
Evaluated at bid price : 13.12
Bid-YTW : 3.03 %
MFC.PR.E FixedReset -1.26 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-10-19
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.55
Bid-YTW : 4.13 %
BAM.PR.K Floater -1.14 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 13.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.00
Bid-YTW : 3.05 %
SLF.PR.E Perpetual-Discount 1.16 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 19.21
Evaluated at bid price : 19.21
Bid-YTW : 5.96 %
SLF.PR.A Perpetual-Discount 1.29 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 20.38
Evaluated at bid price : 20.38
Bid-YTW : 5.93 %
SLF.PR.B Perpetual-Discount 1.44 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 20.49
Evaluated at bid price : 20.49
Bid-YTW : 5.96 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
RY.PR.A Perpetual-Discount 73,589 RBC crossed 19,400 at 19.70, then 20,000 at 19.80.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 19.84
Evaluated at bid price : 19.84
Bid-YTW : 5.64 %
BNS.PR.O Perpetual-Discount 62,200 RBC crossed three blocks of 20,000 shares each at 24.87.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 24.53
Evaluated at bid price : 24.75
Bid-YTW : 5.71 %
CM.PR.D Perpetual-Discount 42,350 RBC crossed 38,200 at 24.30.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 23.95
Evaluated at bid price : 24.28
Bid-YTW : 5.97 %
GWO.PR.L Perpetual-Discount 40,200 RBC crossed 34,300 at 23.75.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 23.51
Evaluated at bid price : 23.67
Bid-YTW : 6.06 %
TRP.PR.A FixedReset 37,125 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2015-01-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.55
Bid-YTW : 4.28 %
RY.PR.B Perpetual-Discount 35,135 RBC crossed 25,000 at 20.83.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-19
Maturity Price : 20.79
Evaluated at bid price : 20.79
Bid-YTW : 5.69 %
There were 26 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.

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KSP.UN: DBRS Downgrades to Pfd-4(low), Discontinues Coverage

November 19th, 2009

DBRS has announced:

has today downgraded its rating on the LROC Preferred Units (the Units) issued by Kingsway Linked Return of Capital Trust (the Trust) to Pfd-4 (low) from Pfd-4. The Under Review with Negative Implications status, which was assigned to the Units on June 8, 2009, is being maintained.

The LROC Preferred Units are supported by an exposure to a note guaranteed by Kingsway Financial Services Inc. and Kingsway America Inc. (collectively, Kingsway) through a forward purchase agreement. The downgrade of the Units is a result of DBRS downgrading the long-term debt ratings of Kingsway earlier today to B (high) from BB (low).

Also, subsequent to today’s downgrade, DBRS immediately discontinued its ratings coverage of Kingsway. As a result, the rating of the Units has also been discontinued.

KSP.UN was last mentioned on PrefBlog when it was downgraded to Pfd-4 by DBRS. KSP.UN is not tracked by HIMIPref™.

BoC Publishes Autumn 2009 Review

November 19th, 2009

The Bank of Canada has announced that the Bank of Canada Review: Autumn 2009 is now available, with the following articles:

  • Bank of Canada Liquidity Actions in Response to the Financial Market Turmoil
  • Understanding Corporate Bond Spreads Using Credit Default Swaps
  • Agency Confl icts in the Process of Securitization

The second article is sufficiently important (by which I mean “important to me”) that it will be reviewed in its own post.

Brown & Holden on Pegged Limit Orders

November 19th, 2009

Pegged Orders were first discussed on PrefBlog in a review of Jeffrey MacIntosh’s essay in the Financial Post. A discussion paper published by IIROC, Dark Pools, Dark Orders, and other Developments in Market Structure in Canada requests commentary on potential regulation of this order type; and the order type was also discussed in the November 2009 edition of PrefLetter.

David P. Brown of the University of Wisconsin and Craig W. Holden of Indiana University wrote a paper in 2005 titled Pegged Limit Orders that is of great interest:

Limit orders face mispricing risk – the risk of executing at a stale limit price after an innovation in public valuation, because limit-order traders generally do not continuously monitor market conditions. We analyze the impact of pegged limit orders that automatically adjust the limit price in a hybrid market. We find the direct effect is to increase limit-order profits, reduce dealer profits, and increase market-order losses. However, the indirect effect is to increase the quantity of limit orders submitted. A numerical calibration finds that when dealers supply relatively little liquidity, there is a net benefit to market orders as well.

Well, relatively little liqudity supply from the dealers is a major attribute of the preferred share market, so let’s look at this a little more. They define two types of risk assumed when entering a limit order:

There are two kinds of risk facing limit orders. 1 One is execution risk – the limit order quantity executed is random. A second is mispricing risk – a limit order may execute after an innovation in public valuation (e.g. a public news item) at a mispriced limit price, because limit-order traders generally are off the exchange and do not monitor market conditions continuously. We analyze whether mispricing risk can be reduced by creating pegged limit orders that automatically adjust the limit price, even in the absence of direct intervention by the limit-order trader.

Mispricing risk is especially important during market crashes.

They design a model, play with it, and find:

Initially, we analyze the direct effect of a design change from Regular LOs to Market-PLOs, and then to Quote-PLOs (holding limit-order quantities fixed). We find:

  • • an increase in limit-order trader profits (Quote-PLOs > Market-PLOs > Regular LOs), because updating limit prices avoids states in which limit orders execute at a loss following a public value innovation,
  • • a reduction in dealer profits (Quote-PLOs < Market-PLOs < Regular LOs), because dealers suffer in two ways: (1) dealers cannot profit by picking off mispriced limit orders and (2) updated limit orders are more effective in competing with the dealers for the incoming flow of market orders,
  • • a reduction of market-order trader profits (or equivalently an increase in their losses) (Quote-PLOs < Market-PLOs < Regular LOs), because market orders lose the opportunity to pick off mispriced limit orders.

Which sounds very reasonable. A Market-PLO is linked to a market index, whereas a Quote-PLO is linked to the quote on a particular security.

Next, we analyze the indirect effect of a design change, allowing limit-order traders to choose the optimal quantities to submit. We find an increase in the quantity of limit orders submitted (Quote-PLOs > Market-PLOs > Regular LOs), because designs which avoid mispricing are more profitable. For marketorder traders, we find that the indirect effect is opposite the direct effect and increases market-order trader profits (Quote-PLOs > Market-PLOs > Regular LOs). This is because a greater quantity of limit orders reduces the probability of exhausting the total depth supplied by limit orders and dealers at the inside spread, and trading at prices outside the spread. Finally, we perform a numerical calibration exercise to analyze the combined impact of the direct and indirect effects on market-order trader profits. We find that under conditions when dealers endogenously choose to supply relatively little liquidity, then the indirect effect dominates and market-order traders benefit. Conversely, under conditions when dealers endogenously choose to supply a relatively large amount of liquidity, then the direct effect dominates and market-order traders lose. Empirically testable predictions of the model are that the introduction of pegged limit orders should cause a jump in limit order use, the cost of trading using market orders should decline in stocks where dealers supply relatively little liquidity, and overall volume should increase.

Moody's May Massacre Hybrid Ratings

November 19th, 2009

A Bloomberg story just appeared Moody’s May Downgrade Up to $450 Billion of Bank Debt:

Moody’s Investors Service is reviewing about $450 billion of bank hybrid and subordinated notes for possible downgrade after changing the assumptions underlying its ratings of the debt.

Some 775 securities issued by 170 “bank families” in 36 countries are affected, the New York-based risk assessor said in an e-mailed statement. Half the hybrids may have their ratings lowered by three to four grades, 40 percent may be cut by one or two grades and the remainder may be lowered by five steps or more, it said.

Moody’s reviews come after it stopped assuming holders of hybrids, which mingle characteristics of debt and equity, would benefit from government support for troubled lenders after the global financial crisis proved that wasn’t the case. The new system expects regulators to treat them more like equity, and takes into account the risk that banks might be forced to suspend coupon payments on their lower-ranked debt.

There does not appear to be a press release or notice on the Moody’s website yet … all I found was a July 28 press release saying that they expected to finalized the methodology in September, which was part of the same story reported on PrefBlog in June.

But then I had a look at their ratings list for Bank of Montreal and hey, looky-looky! All the prefs have “Possible Downgrade, 18 NOV 2009” under “Watch Status”. It the same thing for BNS, by the way, so the notation is not related to the extant Moody’s Watch on BMO.

Stay tuned.

November 18, 2009

November 18th, 2009

A very nice day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 29bp and FixedResets gaining 4bp, on continued moderate volume. There were no losers in the Performance hightlights!

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 1.0355 % 1,513.3
FixedFloater 5.98 % 4.10 % 43,618 18.69 1 0.7194 % 2,607.4
Floater 2.58 % 2.98 % 93,344 19.73 3 1.0355 % 1,890.6
OpRet 4.80 % -4.39 % 121,636 0.09 14 0.1420 % 2,307.7
SplitShare 6.36 % -11.09 % 340,826 0.08 2 1.3449 % 2,113.4
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1420 % 2,110.2
Perpetual-Premium 5.91 % 5.55 % 124,763 2.41 4 0.2294 % 1,860.7
Perpetual-Discount 5.86 % 5.94 % 182,839 13.99 70 0.2854 % 1,769.8
FixedReset 5.47 % 3.97 % 384,413 3.94 41 0.0370 % 2,135.3
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
PWF.PR.L Perpetual-Discount 1.13 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 21.55
Evaluated at bid price : 21.55
Bid-YTW : 5.98 %
POW.PR.A Perpetual-Discount 1.22 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 23.06
Evaluated at bid price : 23.32
Bid-YTW : 6.07 %
HSB.PR.D Perpetual-Discount 1.34 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 21.53
Evaluated at bid price : 21.86
Bid-YTW : 5.79 %
MFC.PR.B Perpetual-Discount 1.40 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 19.61
Evaluated at bid price : 19.61
Bid-YTW : 5.94 %
BMO.PR.J Perpetual-Discount 1.46 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 20.20
Evaluated at bid price : 20.20
Bid-YTW : 5.60 %
RY.PR.C Perpetual-Discount 1.72 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 20.75
Evaluated at bid price : 20.75
Bid-YTW : 5.57 %
BNA.PR.D SplitShare 1.72 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2009-12-18
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.30
Bid-YTW : -11.09 %
BAM.PR.B Floater 1.76 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 13.31
Evaluated at bid price : 13.31
Bid-YTW : 2.98 %
BAM.PR.K Floater 1.86 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 13.15
Evaluated at bid price : 13.15
Bid-YTW : 3.02 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
CM.PR.D Perpetual-Discount 89,700 RBC crossed blocks of 60,000 and 20,000 shares, both at 24.30.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 23.91
Evaluated at bid price : 24.24
Bid-YTW : 5.98 %
GWO.PR.X OpRet 79,529 Desjardins crossed 75,000 at 26.15.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2010-10-30
Maturity Price : 25.67
Evaluated at bid price : 26.13
Bid-YTW : 3.44 %
TRP.PR.A FixedReset 56,797 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2015-01-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.71
Bid-YTW : 4.14 %
PWF.PR.J OpRet 50,858 Nesbitt crossed 50,000 at 26.10.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2009-12-18
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 26.11
Bid-YTW : -9.40 %
BMO.PR.J Perpetual-Discount 43,500 CIBC bought 10,300 from TD at 20.24.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 20.20
Evaluated at bid price : 20.20
Bid-YTW : 5.60 %
BNS.PR.J Perpetual-Discount 33,600 RBC crossed 25,000 at 23.21.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2039-11-18
Maturity Price : 22.42
Evaluated at bid price : 23.15
Bid-YTW : 5.69 %
There were 33 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.

DFN.PR.A: Rights Offering 47% Subscribed

November 18th, 2009

Dividend 15 Split Corp. has announced:

that it has issued 1,181,421 Units for an aggregate of $23.3 million pursuant to the Rights offering that expired on November 16, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. (local time). The net proceeds from the subscription of Units will be used to acquire additional securities in accordance with the Company’s Investment objectives. By raising additional cash through this offering it allows the Company to capitalize on certain attractive investment opportunities that may arise over the next few months. In addition, the offering is expected to increase the trading liquidity of the Company and reduce the management expense ratio.

Both the Preferred Shares and Class A Shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) under the symbol “DFN.PR.A” and “DFN” respectively.

It was only yesterday that I predicted negligible take-up! So much for predictions! There were 10,037,713 units outstanding on May 31, so issue size has increased by a little over 11% (barring interim retractions).

DFN.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when the rights offering was announced. DFN.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™, but is relegated to the Scraps subindex on credit concerns.

Monster MFC Common Equity Issue

November 18th, 2009

Nothing on their website yet, but IIROC halted MFC at 4:31pm today while they announced a $2.5-billion common share deal:

Manulife Financial launched a $2.5-billion stock sale late Wednesday as the life insurer moves to build what it’s chief executive officer described as ‘fortress levels of capital.”

A syndicate of underwriters being led by Scotia Capital and RBC Dominion Securities agreed to buy $2.5-billion in Manulife (MFC-T20.180.180.90%)common shares at a price of $19 each.

They had 1,623-million shares outstanding at the end of the third quarter, so this issue of 130-million-odd shares represents a dilution of about 8%.

It is not clear just what will be done with the money – delevering the holdco would be nice – but presumably this will cause a reappraisal of credit: S&P put them on Watch-Negative on November 6.

MFC has the following preferred shares outstanding: MFC.PR.A (OpRet), MFC.PR.B & MFC.PR.C (PerpetualDiscount), MFC.PR.D & MFC.PR.E (FixedReset). All are tracked by HIMIPref™.

Update: Press Release:

The Company has granted the underwriters an over-allotment option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 30 days after closing, to purchase up to an additional $375,060,000 in common shares at the same offering price. Should the over-allotment option be exercised in full, the total gross proceeds of the offering would be $2,875,460,000.

The estimated net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $2.413 billion, after deducting the underwriting fee and before the estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. The Company expects to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include contributions of capital to its insurance and other subsidiaries, potential acquisitions or other growth initiatives. The Company has not yet made a determination as to how much of the proceeds will be invested in MLI and how much will be used for other corporate purposes. Following the offering, the Company also intends to retire the approximately $1 billion outstanding indebtedness under its Credit Facility with Canadian chartered banks using other cash resources of the Company.

Update, 2009-11-19:DBRS comments:

DBRS notes that on November 18, 2009, Manulife Financial Corporation (Manulife or the Company) announced a $2.5 billion equity issue which will significantly increase the amount of available capital to its primary operating life insurance subsidiary. Manulife also intends to retire the approximately $1 billion outstanding indebtedness under its Credit Facility with banks. At the end of September 2009, there was over $1 billion in cash held at the holding company. There are no rating implications stemming from these actions.

The equity issuance is consistent with the Company’s desire to have “Fortress Capital” to support its longer term financial strength and market franchise. This capital is a cushion against potential earnings volatility associated with heightened equity and credit market exposures, which can also be deployed for growth opportunities. Adjusting for the equity issue and the retirement of the bank debt, the net new capital improves the Company’s consolidated debt ratio (including preferred shares) to 25% from a relatively high 29% at the end of September 2009, and the adjusted debt ratio is 17.2% (down from 20.7%). DBRS anticipates that growth in retained earnings at normalized levels will reduce the total debt ratio to below 25%, which is the Company’s target

YPG.PR.B: Pricing Clue from Bonds

November 18th, 2009

The YPG Holdings treasury department has been working overtime; there were two announcements of interest today.

First, they are redeeming the 4.65% of 2011:

Yellow Pages Group announced today that YPG Holdings Inc. (the “Company”) intends to exercise its right to redeem all of its outstanding $150 million 4.65% Medium Term Notes, Series 6, due February 28, 2011 (CUSIP No. 98424ZAF14) (the “Series 6 Notes”) on the following terms:

Redemption Date: January 15, 2010;
Redemption Price: $1,041.681 per $1,000 principal amount;
Accrued and Unpaid Interest: $17.836 per $1,000 principal amount; and
Total Redemption Price and Accrued and Unpaid Interest: $1,059.517 per $1,000 principal amount.

The redemption price has been determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 6 Notes and the provisions of the trust indenture dated April 21, 2004 governing the Series 6 Notes. Interest accrued on the Series 6 Notes up to, but excluding, the redemption date will be paid on the redemption date. The Company plans to finance the redemption through its existing commercial paper program.

That’s a very fat price for a one-year, The Pricing Supplement for the Series 6 is on SEDAR dated 2006-2-22:

YPG Holdings shall be entitled, at its option, to redeem the Series 5 Notes and/or Series 6 Notes in whole at any time or in part from time to time, by giving prior notice of not less than 30 days and not more than 60 days to the holders thereof, at the greater of the “Canada Yield Price” (as defined herein) and par, together in each case with accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the date fixed for redemption. “Canada Yield Price” shall mean a price equal to the price of the Series 5 Notes or Series 6 Notes, as the case may be, calculated on the banking day preceding the day on which the redemption is authorized by YPG Holdings to provide a yield from the date fixed for redemption to the maturity date of the Series 5 Notes or Series 6 Notes to be redeemed, as the case may be, equal to the “Government of Canada Yield” plus 0.50% in the case of the Series 5 Notes or the “Government of Canada Yield” plus 0.16% in the case of the Series 6 Notes.

Of particular interest to YPG.PR.B holders is news of their issue of 10-year bonds at 7.75%:

YPG Holdings sold C$300 million ($286 million) of 10-year medium term notes, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The 7.75 percent notes, due March 2, 2010, were priced at C$100.00 to yield 7.753 percent, or 432.5 basis points over the Canadian government benchmark, the term sheet said.

The bookrunners of the sale were investment dealer arms of Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal.

The reported due date of 2010-3-2 is a typographical error. I am advised it’s really 2020-3-2.

I noted in July that a ten-year issue would increase confidence and now they’ve done it!

YPG.PR.B closed last night at 17.56-60 to yield 11.09-05%; it is retractible 2017-6-30 at 25.00, so it has a term of about 7.5 years. There may be some who argue that the seniority difference justifies a 335bp spread to bonds, but I’m not one of them!

YPG is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the “Scraps” index on credit concerns. The MAPF Performance Report for October 2009 disclosed a position in YPG.PR.B.

Update, 2009-11-21: I should have linked to the post about the YPG.PR.A & YPG.PR.B Issuer Bid and its reality.

OSFI: Supervision, Yes; Micromanagement, No

November 18th, 2009

Julie Dickson, Superintendent of Financial Institutions, has made a speach at the Women in Capital Markets Distinguished Speakers Luncheon in which she made some very sensible remarks about a new micromanagement policy implemented by the UK’s Financial Services Authority:

A recent announcement by the UK’s FSA illustrates the importance of this issue and the divergent approaches internationally. The FSA has announced4 that it will be interviewing all proposed new employees for senior positions that will be performing Significant Influence Functions (SIF) at financial institutions in the UK.

The key purpose of the interview is to assess the candidate’s fitness and propriety, including their competence and capability to perform the role in question. The interview takes place at the FSA’s offices and normally lasts about 90 minutes.

The FSA has said that it is important for institutions to ensure that the person to be interviewed is well prepared and has an adequate understanding of its business model and the sector in which it operates so the FSA can more easily determine whether the person is fit and proper. The institution needs to engage the FSA early (when there is a short list, not when a preferred candidate has been identified), and should include supporting recruitment documentation when an application is made (e.g., a “head-hunter’s” report). In the past year, the FSA has conducted 172 interviews and rejected 18 people.

Incredible. The footnote (well done!) provides the link to the notice of the new FSA policy.

Ms. Dickson quite properly expresses grave reservations about the policy:

But, in considering the new FSA approach, we have asked ourselves whether, in the ordinary course, it is appropriate for the regulator to be involved in the actual selection of the people who hold senior positions in financial institutions, or whether such action clearly resides with the institution, and whether a requirement for regulatory “approval” crosses a line.

We also worry about the potential for unintended consequences in this approach. Will the regulator have qualms about intervening if approved candidates perform poorly?

Indeed. I suggest that the most important management issue related to bank regulation is the potential for regulatory capture – in which regulators and regulatees form a nice cozy little group-think club – which can at worst lead to revolving door regulation with good little regulators getting very nice jobs from the regulatees after they’ve finished putting in their time.

The FSA’s policy tilts the balance of probability up near the top on the regulatory capture scale.

I don’t think there’s a right answer for that. “Gardening Leave” after leaving the regulator might help a little, as might higher pay and increased prestiege for regulatory positions (to encourage the idea that regulation is what you to cap an illustrious career, rather than start or assist one), but ultimately it all depends on the character of the group at the top of the pyramid – and you can’t legislate character.

On a related note, a paper by former OSFI boss John Palmer (also footnoted in the text of Ms. Dickson’s speech – brava!) Reforming Financial Regulation and Supervision: Going Back to Basics notes:

Another observation from interactions with a variety of regulatory agencies over many years is that the senior people in such agencies often have a weak understanding of financial institutions, what drives their behaviours and the way they respond to regulatory and supervisory initiatives. This has often led to insufficient scepticism of financial sector activities and their underlying motivations. Factors contributing to this have included:

  • • Executives and staff within supervisory agencies who have little or no direct financial sector experience, including a growing number of lawyers in some agencies;
  • • Under-resourcing of supervisory agencies, making it difficult to recruit/retain experienced qualified staff and to maintain robust on-site examination cycles;
  • • Insufficient numbers of product and risk specialists in supervisory agencies and/or ineffective use of such specialists by the senior management of such agencies.

It’s a problem, and is a problem for any regulator. Too many people with industry background increases the chance of capture; too few and you don’t know what you’re doing.

All I can suggest is that Canada seek to emulate some of the US approach: there are a lot of academics at various universities who, although not usually directly employed by the industry, have privileged access throughout their careers and build up quite an impressive body of knowledge. There’s not much of that in Canada, although I have previously referenced an essay by Jeffrey MacIntosh of the UofT Faculty of Law (and a director of Pure Trading) on Pegged Orders. Canadian regulation could be improved by the endowment of professorships at the universities who would provide a critique of regulation and – if they build up a respectable name for themselves – supply a pool of qualified high level personnel.

And, of course, sunshine is the best disinfectant. OSFI must publish more of its internal – and, ideally, external commissioned – research so that investors can decide for themselves where the regulatory flaws might be. That is an integral support of the third pillar.