Customers Bancorp lists on NYSE; Bank of America firms; Deutsche Bank, RBS higher

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, April 29 – The preferred stock market had a slightly weaker tone to it early Friday but managed to turn around to end the month-end session with a firm feel.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index ended up 13 basis points. The index was down 5 bps at mid-morning.

Customers Bancorp Inc.’s $50 million of 6.45% series A fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative perpetual preferreds – a deal priced April 21 – listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

The ticker is “CUBIPE.” Paper was trading at $25.06 at mid-morning, down from $25.10 at the open.

The preferreds ended at $25.08.

Bank of America Corp.’s $900 million of 6% series E noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: BACPA) meantime traded up 6 cents to $25.24. That issue – priced April 18 – listed on Tuesday.

Away from recent issues, European bank preferreds were being eyed in the wake of earnings.

Deutsche Bank AG’s 7.6% trust preferred securities (NYSE: DTK), for instance, were trading up 20 cents to $25.90, as the 6.55% TruPs (NYSE: DXB) improved 13 cents to $24.90.

Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc’s 6.08% noncumulative guaranteed trust preferred securities (NYSE: RBSPG) ticked up 2 cents to $24.52, while the 7.25% series T noncumulative dollar preference shares (NYSE: RBSPT) added 6 cents to close at $25.22.

Deutsche released its first-quarter results on Thursday. Its net profit dove 58% during the period to €236 million as revenue declined 22% to €8.1 billion.

The bank said that the lower revenue “reflected a challenging environment and the impact of strategic decisions to downsize and exit certain businesses.”

Marcus Schenck, chief executive officer, noted in a CNBC interview that the quarter was “one of the most challenging quarters over the last several decades.”

RBS meantime reported a loss of £968 million on Friday, which compared to a loss of £459 million the year before. Revenue was off about 13% at £3.06 billion.

The bank said the wider loss was due to a one-off £1.2 billion dividend payment to the United Kingdom. Excluding that payment, RBS would have seen a £225 million profit for the quarter.

On Thursday, RBS said that the sale of its Williams & Glyn unit was in question.

As part of its bailout agreement, RBS was told to divest the unit, either by a sale or via an initial public offering. The company was given until the end of 2017 to deal with the subsidiary but warned Thursday that it could miss that deadline.

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