Washington Mutual is the first US issuer of covered bonds and it is essential that its inaugural deal succeeds. So it makes sense to select a lead manager group made up of European banks with strong covered bond franchises.
But US dealers are watching closely, with an eye to taking advantage of the change in circumstances. For many years US investment banks have half-heartedly looked at this market before deciding that the fees on offer are too thin to make it worth their while (albeit thereby missing out on relatively lucrative swaps business).
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