Press release

Brussels, 1 September 2022 – For immediate release

The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) is pleased to announce the publication of the 17th (2022) edition of its European Covered Bond Fact Book, which builds upon the success of previous editions to cement 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.

The European Covered Bond Fact Book 2022, featuring the latest covered bond statistical data as of end 2021, can be downloaded from the ECBC website here. On Thursday, 22 September at 16h30-17h15 (CEST), a roundtable will take place during the Euromoney/ECBC Covered Bond Congress in Vienna, Austria where contributors to this year’s edition will highlight some of the main findings and key themes from the 2022 Fact Book, and the session will be moderated by Mr Sascha Kullig, Chairman of the ECBC Fact Book Working Group.

Furthermore, as we did in 2020 and 2021, we will host a special virtual publication event on Monday, 17 October at 14h00-15h30 (CEST), the purpose of which is to give the chance to all prospective readers to get insights directly from the contributing authors. More details will follow in due time.

With over EUR 2.9 tn outstanding at the end of 2021, covered bonds continue to play a key role in European capital markets, contributing to the efficient allocation of capital, while supporting both economic development and the post-pandemic recovery. Moreover, the EUR 515 bn worth of new issuance in 2021 evidences the ability of the asset class to provide essential access to long-term capital market funding. The consistently strong performance of covered bonds and their quality features attract the attention of regulators and market participants worldwide, which, in turn, leads to the increasing recognition of their macro-prudential value. Furthermore, covered bonds are fast becoming a key financial instrument to tackle the environmental challenges of our time and enable the green transition in many countries.

• Chapter I presents an analysis of eleven key themes of the year, offering an overview of the Industry’s perspective on these, such as the impact of Basel III on the EU mortgage sector, Extendable Maturities and the rise of Covered Bond Markets in new areas in the world.
• Chapter II provides a detailed explanation of covered bond fundamentals, explores regulatory issues, the Capital Markets Union (CMU), the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), Solvency II, bail-in mechanisms (MREL and TLAC), and covered bond protection. This chapter also includes articles outlining the repo treatment of covered bonds by central banks, investigates the relationship between covered bonds and other asset classes, such as senior unsecured and government bonds.
• Chapter III presents an overview of the legislation and markets in 42 different countries, demonstrating the worldwide success and recognition, and the continued spread of the asset class.
• Chapter IV sets out credit rating agencies’ various 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 2021.

With regard to the covered bond market statistics for 2021, the ECBC is pleased to confirm that these are now available via the ECBC website here and a short video introduction of the statistics by the Chairman of the ECBC Statistics & Data Working Group, Mr Joost Beaumont, can be found on our YouTube channel. The ECBC data covers market developments over the past 18 years for 36 different countries.

The ECBC welcomes the broad range of views expressed in this latest revision of the Fact Book and thanks all contributors whose enthusiasm and dedication have once again produced an outstanding publication. Particularly, we would like to express our gratitude to the Chairmen of the ECBC Fact Book and Statistics & Data Working Groups, Mr Sascha Kullig and Mr Joost Beaumont, respectively.

Commenting on the publication of the 2022 Edition of the ECBC European Covered Bond Fact Book, EMF-ECBC Secretary General, Luca Bertalot, said:

“The year 2022 marks a milestone for the Covered Bond industry with the transposition into national legislation of the long-awaited Covered Bond Directive. The Directive represents an additional layer of protection for investors, aligned with the systemic approach to making the Banking and Capital Markets Unions stronger.
Along with the 10thanniversary of the Covered Bond Label, the ECBC is providing the community with a complete set of information ranging from a completely reshuffled comparative database, a series of videos covering every jurisdiction and the comeback of the ECBC Plenary 2022 Meeting in Vienna.
The 17th edition of the ECBC Covered Bond Fact Book oversees the dissemination of the knowledge-sharing and expertise from more than 100 contributors not only about the latest market and legislative developments, with complete sets of statistical tables but also the structural features of covered bonds that have long demonstrated to be robust and innovative long-term funding tools for the real economy.”