Now more than ever, covered bonds play a key role in bank funding strategies. With EUR 600 bn issuance during 2010, and the attention of regulators and market participants worldwide, this asset class is going from strength to strength. The key to covered bonds’ success lies in their simplicity: a classic plain vanilla instrument mostly backed by mortgages and/or public sector assets. Strong supervision, a stable investor base and the underlying regulatory and legislative framework ensure that covered bonds continue to provide essential access to capital markets, even throughout the financial turmoil. 

The sixth edition of the European Covered Bond Fact Book - widely known to be the benchmark and the most comprehensive source of information on the asset class – has just been published by the European Covered Bond Council. Download the 2011 edition of the Fact Book here.

EMF-Factbook 2011 front cover

Chapter 1 -  analyses ten ‘key themes’ of the year                         

- reviews the current European regulatory changes, namely the Commission’s CRD IV Proposal and  Solvency II

-  investigates and compares the relationship between covered bonds and senior unsecured and government bonds

-  features a guest article from the IMF on the issue of covered bonds and asset encumbrance

   and much more......

Chapter II –  provides a detailed explanation of covered bond fundamentals

Chapter III - presents an overview of the legislation and markets in 33 countries

Chapter IV – sets out the rating agencies covered bond methodologies

Chapter V –   provides a description of trends in the covered bond market and a complete set of market statistics 

The European Covered Bond Council

The European Covered Bond Council coordinates all of these activities, and acts as a networking platform for over 100 members from more than 25 jurisdictions. For further details about the ECBC, see www.ecbc.hypo.org.

Contact Persons:

Annik Lambert                                  Tel: +32 2 285 40 30

Secretary General of the EMF              alambert@hypo.org

Luca Bertalot                                     Tel: +32 2 285 40 35

Head of the ECBC                                 lbertalot@hypo.org

For further information on the activities of the European Covered Bond Council and European Mortgage Federation please contact:

Avenue de Cortenbergh 71, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium

Tel. +32 2 285 40 30 - Fax +32 2 285 40 31

E-Mail: emfinfo@hypo.org - Website: www.hypo.org

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