Label Procedures / Eligibility

Eligibility

The Covered Bond Label is open to all covered bond programmes that are compliant with the Covered Bond Label Convention.

A covered bond programme is defined as a series of covered bonds backed by the same cover pool. The programme may be governed either by an individual or a general documentation.

As defined in the Covered Bond Label Convention, "Covered bonds are debt securities, backed by mortgage, public sector or ship assets, and characterised by a twofold bondholders' protection mechanism rooted in a dedicated covered bond legal framework".

From the 1st of January 2015, non European Economic Area (EEA) covered bond programmes eligible for LCR will also be able to apply for a non-EEA Labels, as long as they comply with all the requirements of the Covered Bond Label Convention.

In order to be eligible for the Covered Bond Label, non-EEA programmes must be fully compliant with all qualitative standards indicated in the Covered Bond Label Convention and self-certify their full compliance with Article 129 of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and to the definitions in the Liquidity Coverage Requirements (LCR) with the exception of being based in the EEA, i.e. they will present similar legislative safeguards from a qualitative and supervisory point of view to those in Europe. Note that these bonds will present anyhow different characteristics, for example in terms of risk weights. Therefore, non-EEA Labels will be identified on the Label website by using a different graphic solution.