22 July 2016
The ECBC data covers market developments over the past 13 years for 31 different countries, this year including also Singapore as a new covered bond issuer country.
Since 2003, the ECBC statistics have evidenced growth in the covered bond market every year up until 2013, where they showed a contraction in the size of the market. While the outstanding volumes virtually remained constant in 2015 with respect to 2014, decreasing marginally by 0.25% to EUR 2.498 tn, the covered bond issuance volumes grew by 17.93%, reaching EUR 540 bn worldwide.
Singapore joined the group of non-EEA countries issuing covered bonds, alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Panama, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. In 2015, these countries accounted for 11.30% of total outstanding, thus increasing their market share by 1.65 percentage points with respect to 2014.
Commenting on the statistics for 2015, Luca Bertalot, EMF-ECBC Secretary General, said:
“The trend observed during the years of economic crisis confirms the anti-cyclical role played by covered bonds, allowing them to provide essential access to long-term financing and to support the real economy in periods of market turmoil. I am particularly pleased to see the positive development of the covered bond market also outside the core markets in Europe, which proves the high quality and attractiveness of the product at a global level.”
Luca Bertalot, EMF-ECBC Secretary General
The now published statistics will be an integral part of the 2016 edition of the ECBC Fact Book, which will be published at the end of August 2016 and will be presented at the 24th ECBC Plenary Meeting in Düsseldorf on the 14th of September 2016.
The ECBC Working Group on Statistics and Data is responsible for coordinating the annual ECBC data collection exercise, which collates information on issuing activities and volumes outstanding of covered bonds at year end worldwide in both public and private placements. The aim of this exercise is to provide a complete set of numbers that can serve as guidance for interested parties from issuers and investors to regulators.
The ECBC covered bond statistics for 2015 are available on the ECBC website.
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.
