On September 17, 2015, the Covered Bond Label Foundation and the European Covered Bond Council announced agreement on the implementation of a Harmonized Transparency Template (HTT) across jurisdictions for all covered bond issuers that hold the Covered Bond Label. The HTT will be implemented by all relevant issuers with a phase-in period of one year starting from January 1, 2016.

The implementation of the HTT is in response to the European Commission’s Capital Markets Union initiative and its call for an increased level of harmonization in the covered bond space, as well as the European Banking Authority’s recommendations on EU covered bond frameworks and capital treatment. It will offer market participants a complete set of data directly linking every covered bond to the legislative framework under which it is issued and to the cover pool assets.

Issuers will be required to post the completed HTT on their websites at least quarterly.

Source: ECBC press release September 17, 2015.