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.
Read more about this topic: European Covered Bond Council
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