Covered Bonds

Given the firm’s preeminent securitization and mortgage market experience, it is not surprising that the firm counts among its lawyers some of the leading covered bond practitioners. Covered bonds are debt instruments that have recourse either to the issuing entity or to an affiliated group to which the issuing entity belongs, or both, and, upon an issuer default, also have recourse to a pool of collateral (the cover pool) that is separate from the issuer's other assets. Usually, the cover pool consists of high quality residential mortgage loans or mortgage-backed securities. Covered bonds generally are issued by depositary institutions that are regulated entities subject to supervision by banking authorities in their home countries, which ensures that regulators would step in if a safety and soundness issue were to arise.