The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) is the platform that brings together covered bond

Covered bond

Covered bonds are debt securities backed by cash flows from mortgages or public sector loans. They are similar in many ways to asset-backed securities created in securitization, but covered bond assets remain on the issuer’s consolidated balance sheet....

 market participants including issuers, analysts, investment bankers

Investment banking

An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...

, rating agencies and a wide range of interested stakeholders.

History

The ECBC was created by the European Mortgage Federation

European Mortgage Federation

- The European Mortgage Federation :Founded in 1967, the European Mortgage Federation is the voice of the mortgage industry at EU level. Promoting the interests of European mortgage lenders, it deals as much with the retail aspect of mortgage lending as with the funding of loans, an element which...

(EMF) in 2004. As of June 2011, the Council has over 100 members, across 25 active covered bond jurisdictions and many different market segments. ECBC members represent over 95% of covered bonds outstanding.

The purpose of the ECBC is to represent and promote the interests of covered bond market participants at the international level. The ECBC's main objective is to be the point of reference for matters regarding the covered bond industry and operate as a think-tank, as well as a lobbying and networking platform for covered bond market participants.

Structure

The Plenary meeting is a bi-annual discussion forum where all ECBC members gather around the table to discuss issues and to establish strong network links.
The Steering Committee, headed by the ECBC Chairman, and composed of representatives from the major covered bond issuing jurisdictions and industry experts, is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the ECBC. It comes together once every quarter and addresses strategy related questions. It also coordinates the agenda of the various working groups.

Working groups

• The European Legislation Working Group chaired by Mr Paul O’Connor, has over the past five years been closely following the debate on the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and has been successfully lobbying at EU level to obtain treatment that recognises the low risk profile of the instrument. In this respect, the group has drafted and passed comments to the European Institutions.

• The Technical Issues Working Group chaired by Mr Ralf Grossmann, represents the technical think thank of the covered bond community, drawing on experts from across the industry to tackle key issues for the industry. Recent work includes covered bond analysts and country experts working together to describe the key features of each covered bond jurisdiction, presented in an easy to use, comparable format on line.

• The Market Related Issues Working Group chaired by Mr Richard Kemmish, discusses topics such as conventions on trading standards and the market-making process. The Working Group is currently leading the discussions on improving liquidity in secondary markets.

• The Working Group on Statistics and Data, chaired by Mr Horst Bertram, is responsible for collecting and publishing complete and up-to-date information on issuing activities and volumes outstanding of covered bonds in all market segments. With 25 different covered bond jurisdictions and numerous issuers, the collection of data is of utmost importance, particularly given that the ECBC data is increasingly viewed as the key source of covered bond statistics.

• The Fact Book Working Group, chaired by Mr Wolfgang Kälberer, is responsible for the publication of the annual European Covered Bond Fact Book. This publication covers key themes in the industry, market developments, provides a detailed overview of legislative frameworks in different countries as well as statistics.

• The Rating Agency Approaches Working Group chaired by Mr Boudewijn Dierick, examines the rating approaches applied by rating agencies and has been active over the past year monitoring, analysing and reacting to the changes underway in covered bond rating methodologies.

Membership of the ECBC continues to grow and its agenda for the coming year is already filled with numerous activities. The ECBC’s objective now is to press ahead in its work with a view to further strengthening its role in facilitating the communication among the different covered bonds stakeholders, working as a catalyst in defining the common features that characterise the asset class and in facilitating improvements in market practices, transparency and liquidity.

External links

• European Covered Bond Council
• ECBC Technical Issues Covered Bond Comparative Framework Database, provides detailed descriptions of how each covered bond framework works.
• European Mortgage Federation