S&P proposals “a danger for this whole market”

A warning from Louis Hagen, executive director of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp), that Standard & Poor’s proposed new covered bond rating methodology would damage the asset class was just one criticism levelled at the rating agency at an LBBW covered bond conference in Mainz on Friday. But S&P mounted a robust defence of its plans and suggested that issuers be more willing to embrace structured finance techniques.