Covered bonds have existed in Europe for
centuries, and have come to be used in recent
years in an increasing number of EU countries.
Covered bonds are dual-recourse bonds, with
a claim on both the issuer and a cover pool of
high-quality collateral (which the issuer is
required to maintain), issued under specifi c
covered bond legislation (or contracts which
emulate this). The recourse to the issuer
and consequent lack of credit risk transfer
distinguishes covered bonds from asset-backed
securities, with signifi cant implications for
issuers and investors.
The covered bond market in the EU had grown
to over EUR 2 trillion by the end of 2007, and
issuance has proliferated from a few countries
with traditional specialist issuers to the majority
of EU countries. Generally, there is a high degree
of secondary market liquidity, in particular for
the jumbo covered bond market. The cover
assets are typically mortgage loans and loans to
the public sector. In recent years, there has been
a slight change in the composition of collateral
pools. While mortgage loans have gained
steadily in importance, the share of loans to the
public sector has diminished.
Turning to the regulatory framework, a
comparative analysis of covered bond regimes
reveals that although EU directives establish
some common requirements, signifi cant
differences remain between national regulations
for covered bond issuance. Covered bond
issuance and maintenance involve a number of
risk management issues, relating for instance
to the type and quality of cover pool assets
and cash-fl ow mismatches for issuers. Covered
bonds are typically rated much higher than
the unsecured liabilities of the issuer, though
rating agencies differ in their approach to rating
covered bonds.
Covered bonds are one of several funding
sources for banks, and can help banks to
diversify their funding structure and can
facilitate their asset-liability management.