Brussels, 17 May 2018 – For immediate release
The European Mortgage Federation – European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC) welcomes the legislative package on covered bonds, which aims at completing the Capital Markets Union (CMU) in the EU.
We are very grateful for the constructive dialogue held between the Industry and the EU Institutions to date on such a crucial topic for the EU. We also appreciate the proposal’s recognition of the fundamental role played by the Covered Bond Label as a globally recognised benchmark in improving transparency, harmonisation and setting high qualitative standards. As we move forward with the implementation of the Directive, the Industry is ready to continue its key role as supporter of the European Institutions’ push for a strong EU covered bond framework thus improving efficient funding of the real economy and contributing to further development of covered bonds across all of the EU.
Against this background and in response to the European Commission’s consultation on its legislative package for covered bonds, today the ECBC has published a paper highlighting key market concerns with EU-wide relevance, identified by the 14 jurisdictions which took part in this feedback collection exercise. This collection of feedback is intended to offer support during the forthcoming legislative debates, by indicating the key issues which need to be addressed from a market perspective.
In total, 55 concerns were received from 14 jurisdictions which represent 95.7% of the covered bond market outstanding in the EEA and over 86% of the global covered bond market outstanding, thus constituting significant geographic coverage of the covered bond market. All but two concerns highlighted relate to articles or specific sections from the directive, indicating that in the legislative package proposed by the European Commission the Directive is the subject of most discussion.
Commenting on this publication, Luca Bertalot, EMF-ECBC Secretary General stated:
“We welcome the legislative package proposed by the European Commission and believe that covered bonds will play a pivotal role in developing the Capital Markets Union, as a key instrument to channel funds to the property market and to public-sector entities. The safeguarding of the macroprudential and qualitative characteristics of this asset class, which is deeply rooted in the financial tradition of the Old Continent, is essential to guarantee the crisis management nature of the tool. Moreover, we believe that the adoption of a robust legislative framework for covered bonds will represent a clear qualitative benchmark for investors, issuers, legislators at European and global level”.
Download the complete paper here.
The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) is the platform that brings together covered bond market participants including covered bond issuers, analysts, investment bankers, rating agencies and a wide range of interested stakeholders.
