Covered Bonds Look to the East
Date
Sections
ECBC Meets with Key Authorities & Stakeholders in Asia
“Covered Bonds Look to the East”
Brussels, 3 March 2017 – For immediate release
Today, the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) begins a series of meetings in India and Singapore with key Asian national authorities and stakeholders from both existing and potential future covered bond jurisdictions. These meetings will allow discussions to take place on the latest state of play concerning covered bond markets in Europe and other markets represented by the ECBC, as well as to consider the potential for the asset class to play a role in ensuring access to stable and sustainable long-term financing in a number of other Asian countries.
The ECBC, represented by its Secretary General, Luca Bertalot, and Chairman of the ECBC Global Issues Working Group, Colin Chen, will be meeting with representatives of national authorities from India, Singapore and Malaysia. In addition to these bilateral meetings, on 8 March 2017 the ECBC will host the fourth edition of the ECBC Asian Covered Bond Investor Roundtable in Singapore where over 65 key stakeholders in Asian covered bond markets, including representatives from Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom, will convene to discuss current major developments in the covered bond space such as resolution regimes, liquidity, asset encumbrance, covered bond supervision/market best practices and the evolution of the Covered Bond Label – especially the implementation of the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT).
The Roundtable has four principal objectives:
· To educate potential new categories of investors and national authorities on the subject of covered bonds
· To provide detailed expert information on the different existing covered bond jurisdictions/issuers around the world
· To highlight the key qualitative features characterising the European covered bond market
· To facilitate the convergence of upcoming legislative developments in Asia towards the traditional key qualitative characteristics of covered bonds (i.e. the Covered Bond Label), which can then facilitate the recognition of the macro prudential value of covered bonds within the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) framework.
Commenting on these events, EMF-ECBC Secretary General, Luca Bertalot said:
“The recent developments in Asia in terms of issuers’ compliance with the qualitative standards of the Covered Bond Label are paving the way for true equivalence and harmonisation in the treatment of covered bonds at the global level.”
The Roundtable will be preceded on 7 March 2017 by the Euromoney/ECBC Asian Covered Bond Forum, which will also be held for the fourth time. Further details regarding the draft Agenda for this year’s Forum, how to apply for a place and information on previous editions can be found here.
Contact:
Luca Bertalot
Secretary General
Tel: +32 2 285 40 35
Notes to the Editor:
1. Established in 1967, the European Mortgage Federation (EMF) is the voice of the European mortgage industry, representing the interests of mortgage lenders and covered bond issuers at European level. The EMF provides data and information on European mortgage markets, which were worth over 7.0 trillion EUR at the end of 2015. The EMF currently has 17 members across 14 EU Member States as well as a number of observer members.
2. In 2004 the EMF founded the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC), a platform bringing together covered bond issuers, analysts, investment bankers, rating agencies and a wide range of interested stakeholders. The ECBC currently has over 110 members across more than 30 active covered bond jurisdictions and many different market segments. ECBC members represent over 95% of covered bonds outstanding, which were worth nearly 2.5 trillion EUR at the end of 2015.
3. The Covered Bond Label was established in 2012 by the EMF-ECBC. It is a quality Label which responds to a market-wide request for improved standards and increased transparency in the covered bond market. As of March 2017, the Label website features the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT) and 14 National Transparency Templates, published by 86 issuers disclosing information on 102 labelled cover pools across 16 jurisdictions. The Covered Bond Label website currently provides issuance data on close to 4,300 covered bonds, amounting to a total face value of over 1.4 trillion EUR, out of which over 2,000 covered bonds already include information on the Liquidity Coverage Requirement (LCR).
4. For the latest updates from the EMF-ECBC, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube or visit the EMF-ECBC blog.