Covered Bond Regulation
Richard Kemmish
30 years: Capital markets & covered bonds
The new EU Covered Bond Directive has standardised the definition and minimum standards for covered bonds. In this video of the series, Richard discusses the most important of those investor rules for a bank investor, insurance investor and mutual fund investor.
The new EU Covered Bond Directive has standardised the definition and minimum standards for covered bonds. In this video of the series, Richard discusses the most important of those investor rules for a bank investor, insurance investor and mutual fund investor.
Covered Bond Regulation
10 mins 29 secs
There are numerous rules and regulations set out by the EU Covered Bond Directive such as minimal capital requirements – each of these have a specific impact upon banking, insurance and mutual fund investors.
Key learning objectives:
Define LCR and identify the sub-category of assets
Define Covered Bond
Outline the different rules/regulation for banking, insurance and mutual fund investors
What is a covered bond?
Covered bonds are bonds issued by a credit institution in a member state, subject by law to special public supervision designed to protect bondholders. Sums from the issue of those bonds shall be invested in accordance with the law in assets, which in the vent of failure of the issuer, would be used to pay the principle and accrued interest.
How do banks allocate capital?
- Standardised approach – the risk weight of a covered bond of any given credit rating is one category better than a similarly rated non-covered bond. For example, a Triple A rated covered bond has a 10% risk weight, rather than 20%.
- Internal Ratings Based Approach – a formula is used to determine a bond’s risk weight. Covered bonds are allowed to use a preferential loss assumption of 11.25%.
Where does the capital saving, for a bank holding a covered bond, come from?
- There is a lower risk weighting of a covered bond compared to the right weighting of an unsecured bank bond
- Covered bonds provide a ratings uplift
What is the Liquidity Cover ratio?
Banks have to hold a pool of very liquid, high quality assets to cover their cash outflows over the next 30 days. According to the EBA, this typically is 10% or more of the bank’s entire balance sheet.
How are these assets split into categories?
- If a bond is rated at least Double A minus or has a minimum size of 500m euros outstanding, it is held in the highest – level 1 category of assets
- If it is smaller, down to 250m euros, or rated single A, it can qualify for the level 2A as long as it has a minimum over-collateralisation of 7% (if it is rated single A)
- Other covered bonds that don’t meet these criteria qualify for the lowest category – level 2B
What are the rules for insurance and mutual fund investors?
Insurance companies are subject to regulation under the Solvency 2 rules. It looks at the risks concerning credit risk. They look at how much an insurer might lose because of movements in credit spreads in the assets they hold. Covered bonds are also relevant to rules limiting concentration risks in an insurer’s portfolio.
For mutual funds (UCITS): for qualifying bonds, funds are exempt from the normal rule limiting them to 5% of their portfolio in the bonds of any one issuer. For covered bonds this can be up to 25%.
What are some other rules investors face?
- EMIR exempts covered bond swaps from clearing obligations
- Covered bonds are exempt from bail-in under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive
Richard Kemmish
There are no available videos from "Richard Kemmish"