Covered bonds are debt instruments secured against a pool of mortgages to which the
investor has a preferred claim in the event of an issuer default. In EU countries, the issuance
of mortgage covered bonds is regulated by laws that define the criteria for eligible assets as
well as various other specific requirements.
In most cases, assets are earmarked as collateral
for the outstanding covered bond and are kept in separate cover pools. In some countries
(such as Spain), all mortgages on the balance sheet of the issuer are acting as collateral for
the bonds. Following the ‘cover principle’, the outstanding amount and interest claims on
covered bonds must be covered by the amount of eligible cover assets.