ECBC will struggle to promote new ESN (updated)

Covered bond bankers and investors reacted with scepticism to the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC)’s proposed new dual-recourse bond structure. The lack of standardisation across SME reporting means that using them in the collateral pool will be problematic. In addition, even if these concerns are ironed out, issuers will have to pay up for the product, something which makes little sense in such a low cost environment.