European Commission Proposes EU Covered Bonds Legislative Package

On March 12, 2018, the European Commission published legislative proposals for a new EU covered bonds framework. The legislative package consists of a proposed Directive on the issue of covered bonds and covered bond public supervision and a proposed Regulation to amend the prudential treatment of covered bonds under the Capital Requirements Regulation. The proposals are part of the EU's Capital Markets Union project and follow from the work of the European Banking Authority in this area, in particular, its 2016 recommendations for an EU covered bonds framework.

The proposed Covered Bonds Directive will apply to covered bonds issued by EU credit institutions, which means that only EU credit institutions will be able to issue covered bonds governed by the framework. Issuers using the EU covered bonds label will need to comply with the proposed Directive but can also use the label with national labels. Covered bonds are debt obligations issued by credit institutions and