Briefs: BNP's new country head, covered bonds remain stable 21 May 2015 3:48PM Banking Day staff Briefs, BNP Paribas said it had appointed James Gibson as the new country head and CEO of BNP Paribas Australia and New Zealand, effective 15 June. He will be responsible for managing the bank's overall activities in Australasia and will report to BNP Paribas Asia Pacific chief executive Eric Raynaud. Gibson, who joined BNP Paribas in 2011 in Hong Kong, is the group's Asia Pacific head of regional human resources. He will take over from Didier Mahout, who in turn is moving to Budapest to head up BNP's operations in Central Europe after eight years in Sydney. The Australian and New Zealand covered bond programs' performances remained stable during Q1 2015, supported by the issuers' stable financial profiles, credit quality of the cover pool assets and Aaa sovereign ratings, said Moody's. The weighted average current loan-to-value ratios for residential mortgage loans in the cover pools ranged between 57.2 per cent and 66.8 per cent in Australia and between 45.2 per cent and 56.7 per cent in NZ. Australian covered bond issuance increased to A$84.6 billion in 1Q 2015, ($80.9 billion in 4Q 2014) while New Zealand covered bond issuance increased to NZ$15.3 billion (NZ$14.4 billion in 1Q 2014).