Covered bond issuers cheer EU swaps margin relief

Issuers believe they should be able to satisfy six conditions for exemption from bilateral margining and hope clearing exemption will follow

Covered bond pools only have homes as collateral

Issuers of covered bonds have welcomed European proposals that would exempt them from the need to collateralise non-cleared swaps – a safe harbour that international regulators did not include in their own standards on bilateral margining that were finalised last year.

"This is a good thing for the industry. It acknowledges the special status of covered bonds and the problems pools have with posting collateral. So this proposal gives the market clarity and is a move in the right direction," says