ecB repo efficiency
Bank investors are a major investor base in both sovereign debt as well as covered bonds. One of the main
things bank treasuries focus on when investing is the repo efficiency of an investment. The lower the haircut
and the less volatile price the better.
As mentioned above, repo haircuts for covered bonds are fairly similar to those of sovereign debt as long as
both are rated at least A- by one rating agency (the best rating is relevant for this purpose). Currently most
covered bonds in the market fall into the lower haircut table, even if in some cases they only benefit from this
thanks to their DBRS rating.
If we look at two bonds with identical coupons and similar maturities, the one with the significantly tighter
spread is trading at the higher price and thus generating more central bank liquidity (liquidity is measured
based on market price minus haircut). When running this comparison between sovereign bonds and covered
bonds, sovereign debt is the clear winner in virtually all core countries thanks to slightly lower haircuts but
most of all lower spreads and higher prices.
However, in some peripheral countries, covered bonds have been able beat their sovereign pendants when it comes
to ECB liquidity generated throughout the crisis. The liquidity advantage was also highest whenever the degree
of stress in the market was highest, which is exactly when banks require stable central bank liquidity the most.
The SANTAN 4 07/2020 Cedulas Hipotecarias was generating almost 6 points more cash from repoing it with
the Eurosystem than the SPGB 4 03/2020 at the height of the sovereign crisis. And what adds to the argument
is the higher degree of price stability of Cedulas. Not only was the covered bond generating more liquidity, it
was generating the more stable liquidity.