Pricing
Covered bond yields reflect the basket of benefits and limitations outlined, with the primary benefit being recourse to both the issuer and the cover pool of collateral.
Issuers that experience credit problems will generally have fewer high-quality assets available to contribute to a cover pool. As a result there is often correlation in credit rating and spread movement between unsecured and covered bonds from the same issuer; if cover pool collateral credit quality deteriorates so will the credit standing of the issuer along with the covered bond. This is not necessarily the case for MBS issues, which are generally bankruptcy-remote. As the issuer’s credit standing is important to the covered bond investor, there is also the potential for ancillary benefit in the form of Sovereign support for the issuer, as illustrated in certain cases during the financial crisis. Conversely, declining Sovereign State credit quality is likely to adversely impact issuers due to declining macro-economic conditions weakening bank credit quality, squeezing interbank liquidity and driving up funding costs.