Press release

Today, the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) begins a series of meetings in India and Singapore with key Asian national authorities and stakeholders from both existing and potential future covered bond jurisdictions.

These meetings will allow discussions to take place on the latest state of play concerning covered bond markets in Europe and other markets represented by the ECBC, as well as to consider the potential for the asset class to play a role in ensuring access to stable and sustainable long-term financing in a number of other Asian countries.

The ECBC, represented by its Secretary General, Luca Bertalot, and Chairman of the ECBC Global Issues Working Group, Colin Chen, will be meeting with representatives of national authorities from India, Singapore and Malaysia. In addition to these bilateral meetings, on 8 March 2017 the ECBC will host the fourth edition of the ECBC Asian Covered Bond Investor Roundtable in Singapore where over 65 key stakeholders in Asian covered bond markets, including representatives from Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom, will convene to discuss current major developments in the covered bond space such as resolution regimes, liquidity, asset encumbrance, covered bond supervision/market best practices and the evolution of the Covered Bond Label – especially the implementation of the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT).

The Roundtable has four principal objectives:

• To educate potential new categories of investors and national authorities on the subject of covered bonds
• To provide detailed expert information on the different existing covered bond jurisdictions/issuers around the world
• To highlight the key qualitative features characterising the European covered bond market
• To facilitate the convergence of upcoming legislative developments in Asia towards the traditional key qualitative characteristics of covered bonds (e. the Covered Bond Label), which can then facilitate the recognition of the macro prudential value of covered bonds within the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) framework.

Commenting on these events, EMF-ECBC Secretary General, Luca Bertalot said:

“The recent developments in Asia in terms of issuers’ compliance with the qualitative standards of the Covered Bond Label are paving the way for true equivalence and harmonisation in the treatment of covered bonds at the global level.”

The Roundtable will be preceded on 7 March 2017 by the Euromoney/ECBC Asian Covered Bond Forum, which will also be held for the fourth time. Further details regarding the draft Agenda for this year’s Forum, how to apply for a place and information on previous editions can be found here.