By Rupert Pretterklieber and Sven Egenter
ZURICH, July 22 (Reuters) - UBS and Credit Suisse will get more cash from Switzerland's regional banks through a new covered bond deal as the Swiss National Bank seeks to balance liquidity among banks, the SNB said.
'I can confirm the transaction with a volume of 1.27 billion Swiss francs ($1.19 billion) has happened,' SNB spokesman Nicolas Haymoz told Reuters.
'There can be further transactions if needed,' he added.
Covered bonds, known as Pfandbriefe, are bonds backed with high-quality Swiss mortgages and are issued by an institution called the Pfandbriefbank for the country's commercial banks.
The latest covered bond was the fourth deal brokered by the SNB. Under the deals, cash-rich small, regional banks buy the bond, effectively providing the big banks with a loan.
The latest deal -- the smallest so far -- takes the total volume to some 11 billion francs. The SNB has said a total volume of 20 billion francs may be possible.
Spokesmen for UBS and Credit Suisse confirmed that both banks had taken part in the transaction but declined to give details on banks' individual shares in the deal.
The SNB sees these deals as a key to balance money between Swiss banks and help UBS and Credit Suisse to meet their refinancing needs after many Swiss stashed their money with smaller, regional banks during the credit crisis.
In previous deals, the larger regional banks Raiffeisen, Postfinance and the cantonal bank ZKB together with a number of smaller cantonal and regional banks had been among the buyers.
A Postfinance spokesman said the bank had not taken part this time. ZKB and Raiffeisen could not immediately comment. ($1=1.068 Swiss Franc) ($1=1.068 Swiss Franc) Keywords: SWISS SNB/ (sven-markus.egenter@thomsonreuters.com; +41.58.306.7351; Reuters Messaging: sven-markus.egenter.reuters.com@reuters.net; Editing by Victoria Main) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
ZURICH, July 22 (Reuters) - UBS and Credit Suisse will get more cash from Switzerland's regional banks through a new covered bond deal as the Swiss National Bank seeks to balance liquidity among banks, the SNB said.
'I can confirm the transaction with a volume of 1.27 billion Swiss francs ($1.19 billion) has happened,' SNB spokesman Nicolas Haymoz told Reuters.
'There can be further transactions if needed,' he added.
Covered bonds, known as Pfandbriefe, are bonds backed with high-quality Swiss mortgages and are issued by an institution called the Pfandbriefbank for the country's commercial banks.
The latest covered bond was the fourth deal brokered by the SNB. Under the deals, cash-rich small, regional banks buy the bond, effectively providing the big banks with a loan.
The latest deal -- the smallest so far -- takes the total volume to some 11 billion francs. The SNB has said a total volume of 20 billion francs may be possible.
Spokesmen for UBS and Credit Suisse confirmed that both banks had taken part in the transaction but declined to give details on banks' individual shares in the deal.
The SNB sees these deals as a key to balance money between Swiss banks and help UBS and Credit Suisse to meet their refinancing needs after many Swiss stashed their money with smaller, regional banks during the credit crisis.
In previous deals, the larger regional banks Raiffeisen, Postfinance and the cantonal bank ZKB together with a number of smaller cantonal and regional banks had been among the buyers.
A Postfinance spokesman said the bank had not taken part this time. ZKB and Raiffeisen could not immediately comment. ($1=1.068 Swiss Franc) ($1=1.068 Swiss Franc) Keywords: SWISS SNB/ (sven-markus.egenter@thomsonreuters.com; +41.58.306.7351; Reuters Messaging: sven-markus.egenter.reuters.com@reuters.net; Editing by Victoria Main) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.