August 16, 2010
Frankly, news was light in the covered bond world during the second week of August, at summer's height.
Most items of covered bond news compiled below have not received longer treatment as individual articles in this publication, often because they relate to geographic areas outside our focus, North America. But we also include links to some articles that we have published separately during the past week — all organized by country....
August 6, 2010
A Cypress bank issues covered bonds for collateral . . . A professor writes about U.S. covered bonds in the 19th century . . . Eurhypo taps €250 million . . . Caja Madrid to continue repurchases . . . and more
Most items of covered bond news compiled below have not received longer treatment as individual articles in this publication, often because they relate to geographic areas outside our focus, North America. But we also...
August 3, 2010
"Covered mortgage bonds have been used successfully in Europe for two centuries, but failed in the U.S. when introduced as farm mortgage debentures in the 1880s. Using firm-level data and a sample of loans made by one Kansas mortgage company, I find that debenture programs grew out of established loan brokerage operations and were used to fund mortgages that were difficult to broker because of size, term or risk characteristics. Debentures broadened access to the interregional mortgage...
August 2, 2010
The latest version of U.S. covered bond legislation (H.R. 5823) — which recently won a favorable vote from the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) — offers both pluses and minuses, according to a comment published by Moody's Investor's Service (August 2).
On the plus side, the bill "will help investors in covered bond transactions because it will set up investor-friendly procedures following an issuer default." In such a situation, there would be an established...
August 1, 2010
An Australian lawyer reports on efforts to gain approval for covered bond issuance there . . . a U.S. dollar tap in Canada and a Euro CB tap in France . . . plans for more covered bonds in Korea . . . a step forward for CB legislation in the U.S. . . . and more
Some items of covered bond news do not rate their own story in this publication, often because they relate to geographic areas outside our focus, North America. We include links to some of...
July 29, 2010
In this exclusive interview, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) talks with Covered Bond Investor™ about the amendments offered by Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) at the markup session for the United States Covered Bond Act of 2010 (H.R. 5823), held July 28.
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Several amendments to H.R. 5823 — the latest version of covered bond legislation in Congress — were added to the bill during the markup session of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) before the HSFC voted to report the bill to the House floor.
- A four-page amendment from Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) provides for a system of joint regulation by a variety of entities instead of oversight by a single regulator.
To download a PDF of the Bean amendment...
July 28, 2010
The latest version of comprehensive U.S. covered bond legislation, H.R. 5823, was reported out of a markup session by a voice vote of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Wednesday evening (July 28).
As noted by Dow Jones...
Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada (CIBC) tapped both of the U.S. dollar-denominated bonds it has issued to date, generating an additional $1 billion (July 27).
A $400 million tap on CIBC's three-year, 2013 issue was priced at 27 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasuries. A $600 million tap on CIBC's...
July 26, 2010
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has sent a letter to U.S. House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), urging him to support the revised version of the proposed U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2010 that was introduced in Congress July 22 as H.R. 5823.
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