preview

Essay on Covered Bonds

Better Essays

With liquidly rationing, (credit crunch) does offering covered bonds hold the answer or does it just offer banks the opportunity to increase their margin?. Discuss critically.
Introduction
In the modern day world, with technology and global markets expanding, the need for credit is a constant issue for economies to monitor. Liquidity rationing has been most relevant since the GFC, when the credit market essentially froze, sending financial markets in turmoil. Therefore finding ways to increase liquidity at a time when markets are volatile requires instruments of low risk. Covered bonds have recently gained momentum as a popular tool for banks to increase their liquidity whilst taking on very limited risk.

Theory
A Credit Crunch also …show more content…

Prior to the intensification of the financial crisis in October 2008, covered bonds were a key source of funding for euro area banks. The market had grown to over €2.4 trillion by the end of 2008, compared with about €1.5 trillion in 2003 (ECBC, 2009). The lack of credit risk transfer with covered bonds is an important distinction with this asset class compared with, for example, asset-backed securities (ABS) and other securities that were subject to securitization. This may well explain the resilience of the covered bond market at the initial stage of the crisis in August 2007. (Biswas, 2010) Investors’ affinity for covered bonds can be explained by their relative safety compared with any non-securitized asset class. In relation to covered bonds, a pool of collateral backs the credit risk of the issuer, which is usually of high quality. Despite this, however, the covered bond market was not totally immune to the effects of the crisis. Up to the intensification of the crisis following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September 2008, it was clear that the covered bond market had outperformed other wholesale funding instruments. The widening of spreads was much less substantial for covered bonds than other ABS and unsecured debt. (Biswas, 2010) Graph 1 backs up this argument that the widening of spreads was less significant for covered bonds as

Get Access