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23 November 2024
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In designing rules to protect investors, ASIC prevents reinvestment in products some people have held for years, even when investors qualify as 'wholesale'. How can ASIC change the rules to correct the imbalance?
Conservative investors who want the greater capital security of bonds can now lock in 5% but they should stay at the higher end of credit quality. Rises in rates and defaults mean it's not as easy as it looks.
The recent rise in the prices of bank hybrids fails to recognise the risks involved, and they now look expensive compared to alternatives available to both retail and institutional investors.
The margins (or spreads) on so-called AT1 bank hybrids have reduced significantly since the franking doubt was removed in the election, and investors should ask whether they are now rewarded for the risks.
While property and equity markets remain expensive by historical standards, yields achievable relative to risk remain strong in the hybrid market, notwithstanding recent upticks in price.
Factors relating to technical adjustments, timing of bank reporting and offshore influences have created wider spreads on bonds and hybrids which should mean revert in time.
Hybrids are complex instruments but they can be viewed as a bond with an embedded option, and they convert to equity in certain circumstances. Investors should consider the risk of this happening.
Subordinated debt issues are a less risky investment than capital notes and hybrids, but each transaction is different and not riskless. The current issue of NAB Subordinated Notes is just one example.