5 February 2018
The Covered Bond Label Foundation (CBLF) is delighted to announce that PKO Bank Hipoteczny has become the first Polish issuer to join the Covered Bond Label. As such PKO Bank Hipoteczny becomes the 97th issuer to hold the Label and brings the total number of labelled pools to 114.
Commenting on this latest addition to the Label, Luca Bertalot, Covered Bond Label Foundation Administrator, said:
“We are delighted to welcome the first Polish bank to the Covered Bond Label. The successful development of the covered bond market in Poland and the publication of the first Eastern European HTTs represents a significant step forward towards the implementation of the Capital Markets Union.”
Commenting on PKO Bank Hipoteczny acquiring the Label, Jakub Niesluchowski, Deputy CEO, said:
“PKO Bank Hipoteczny, as the leader of the mortgage banks market in Poland, is already present on the European market and takes next step towards strengthening our relationship with investors. Now we have confirmed again our commitment to the highest standards of transparency and assurance of providing to investors accurate and up-to-date information”.
To recap, 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.
In 2017 PKO Bank Hipoteczny achieved a leading position in the Polish mortgage banks market by total assets and volume of mortgage loans. The Bank also became the largest regular issuer of covered bonds in Poland, operating on both Polish and foreign markets. The outstanding mortgage covered bonds issued by the Bank exceeds the half of the total market volume.
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.
