Press release

“The Wait is Finally Over: the 2018 Edition

of the European Covered Bond Fact Book is Now Available”

Brussels, 27 August 2018 – For immediate release

The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) is pleased to announce the publication of the 13^th (2018) edition of its European Covered Bond Fact Book, which builds upon the success of previous editions and confirms its place as the definitive source of information in terms of market, regulatory and legislative developments and statistical data on the covered bond asset class.

With almost EUR 2.5 tn outstanding at the end of 2017, covered bonds play a key role in European capital markets, contributing to the efficient allocation of capital and, ultimately, to economic development and recovery. The EUR 445bn of issuance in 2017 evidences the ability of the asset class to provide essential access to long-term capital market funding. The consistently strong performance and quality features of covered bonds attract the attention of regulators and market participants worldwide, which, in turn, leads to an increasing recognition of the macro-prudential value of the asset class.

The 13^th edition of the ECBC European Covered Bond Fact Book 2018 features the following content:

• Chapter I presents an analysis of 11 key themes of the year, offering an overview of the industry’s views on these.
• Chapter II provides a detailed explanation of covered bond fundamentals and a review of relevant EU legislative files.
• Chapter III presents an overview of the legislation and markets in 39 countries, demonstrating the worldwide success and recognition of the asset class.
• Chapter IV sets out credit rating agencies’ covered bond methodologies.
• Chapter V provides a description of trends in the covered bond market, as well as a complete set of covered bond statistics up to the end of 2017.

With regard to the covered bond market statistics for 2017, the ECBC is pleased to announce that they are now available on the ECBC website here. The ECBC data covers market developments over the past 15 years for 32 different countries. 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. The outstanding volumes decreased marginally by 1.2% to EUR 2.461 tn in 2017. The covered bond issuance volumes decreased by 7.9% with respect to 2016 reaching EUR 446 bn worldwide, which is in line with the average issuance since 2013. In 2017, non-EEA countries with an active covered bond market were Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland, which accounted for 11.7% of the total outstanding, marking a 0.6 percentage point decrease with respect to 2016.

The European Covered Bond Fact Book 2018, featuring the covered bond statistical data, can be downloaded on the ECBC website.

The hard copy of the Fact Book will be presented and made available at the ECBC Plenary Meeting in Munich on 12 September 2018.

The ECBC welcomes the broad range of views expressed in this revision of the Fact Book and thanks all contributors whose enthusiasm and dedication have once again produced an outstanding publication, especially the Chairmen of the ECBC Fact Book and Statistics & Data Working Groups, Mr Wolfgang Kälberer and Mr Florian Eichert, respectively.

“In the current legislative debate aimed at developing a common covered bond framework at EU level which will also provide a global benchmark for other jurisdictions, the latest edition of the ECBC Covered Bond Fact Book represents an important and timely source of legal, qualitative and quantitative information which can serve as a basis for legislators, national authorities and market participants.”

Luca Bertalot, EMF-ECBC Secretary General

Download the European Covered Bond Fact Book 2018 today! click here