Press release

COVID-19 focus of 2020 Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT) ready for use

Brussels, 9 June 2020 – For immediate release

The Covered Bond Label Foundation (CBLF) is delighted to announce the formal adoption of the COVID-19 addendum tab embedded in the 2020 version of the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT) ready to be used by the Labelled Covered Bond Issuers starting from today and available here.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 outbreak and its effect on collateral assets, coupled with the urgency of reporting this information in a systematic and harmonised way, the HTT 2020 will include a COVID-19 addendum tab with which issuers can report information on the assets affected by payment holidays exclusively due to the current pandemic.

Commenting on this development, Luca Bertalot, Covered Bond Label Foundation Administrator, said:

“In the context of this unprecedented crisis, the Covered Bond Label Committee has updated the HTT via a fast track procedure as an immediate reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak with the aim of facilitating cross-border data comparison in a centralised manner and a harmonised format. The fact that the Label continuously strives to respond to evolving market developments has been rewarded this month when the outstanding amount of labelled covered bonds surpassed the EUR 2.0 tn mark.”

The Covered Bond Label is a quality label, the purpose of which is to highlight the security and quality of covered bonds to investors and to further enhance recognition of and trust in the covered bond asset class.

The Covered Bond Label is open to all covered bond programmes that are compliant with the Covered Bond Label Convention and disclose their data by publishing the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT). More information on all labelled issuers and the Label itself can be found on the Covered Bond Label website at www.coveredbondlabel.com.